


This Time Around

by Kyarorain



Category: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-17
Updated: 2011-08-17
Packaged: 2019-07-13 02:44:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 76,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16008629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kyarorain/pseuds/Kyarorain
Summary: When old and new threats rise to disrupt the peace, Sissel must protect everyone and deal with these threats.





	1. Chapter 1

 

This Time Around

\---

I'm back and this time with a longer fic. I think I'm going to have fun writing this. Of course, it goes without saying that there are major spoilers for the game within.

Capcom owns Ghost Trick.

\---

Sissel stretched out his body and rolled onto his back, looking up at the window. The sunlight shone through, casting a yellow rectangle over him. He couldn't feel the heat on his body and barely even remembered what it felt like anymore. It had been quite strange to not feel anything at first but over time, he grown used to it. There had been moments when he was very thankful for it such as the time two-year-old Kamila thought pulling him around by the tail was a good idea or the time when he had been caught up in the jaws of a ferocious Rottweiler while exploring. Its owner had been quite astonished to see the little kitten he pried from its jaws simply walk away uninjured.

Even if his body was only a shell incapable of feeling anything, he did his best to act like an ordinary kitten, though there was nothing he could do about the fact he wasn't aging. He would contentedly lie in the sunlight and pretend to sleep if he had to.

The doorbell rang noisily and Sissel rolled back onto his front, seeing Jowd stride across the room to answer the door.

"Hello, Lynne," the bearded detective spoke, stepping back. He glanced down as an overenthusiastic Pomeranian barrelled through the doorway. "So you brought Missile with you."

"I just mentioned that I was going to your place and Missile started going crazy," Lynne explained as she came into the house with a manila folder clutched to her chest. "He obviously wanted to come so badly, I couldn't say no. It's okay, isn't it?"

"Of course it is. I imagine he wanted to see Kamila again."

"You think so? He does seem to be crazy over her." Lynne glanced at Missile, who was now barking excitedly at the windowsill where Sissel lay. "I remember the day I got him, I was looking at this litter of Pomeranian puppies and Missile, he just charged right at me. He seemed so happy to see me. How could I not get him after that?"

(Subtlety is not this little doggie's strong point, is it?)

Sissel leaped down to the floor. Missile immediately bounced forward and started licking him happily. "Do you really have to do that? I can wash myself, thank you very much."

Sissel quickly put distance between himself and the exuberant Pomeranian. Of course, he understood Missile was just happy to finally be able to see him and Kamila again after waiting for two years, but the little doggie was being just a tad overbearing at the moment. He padded over to Lynne, meowing.

"Hey, Sissel." Lynne knelt down and rubbed his head.

"So, how is it going with your first case?" Jowd asked. "You're working on the case dealing with that drug ring, aren't you?"

"Yes, that's right." Lynne stood up and set her folder down on the table. "It seems we may actually have a potential lead now. Someone left a message saying they might be willing to talk, provided we meet their conditions."

"It sounds pretty dangerous for a first case, but I imagine that you're well prepared for it, aren't you?"

"Hey, if I was afraid of danger, I never would have become a detective," Lynne declared cheerfully, placing her hands on her hips. "Besides, nothing beats the thrill of wiping out evil!"

Sissel listened intently, feeling very confused. He got that Lynne was working on some kind of dangerous case but had no idea what a drug ring was supposed to be. (I'm pretty sure a ring is what people wear on their fingers, but it can't be that kind of ring they are talking about. Too bad I can't just ask her.) He sure did miss being able to talk to her. Considering the detective's luck, maybe it wouldn't be too long before they could communicate again.

Missile suddenly gave an impatient sounding whine, reminding everyone present that he too was there.

"Kamila's out in the garden," Jowd said. "Just take that door there and go through the hall."

"Okay. Seriously, this is weird. He's never been so affectionate of anyone other than me before." Lynne frowned thoughtfully. "Anyway, come on, Missile."

Sissel followed after them into the garden. He saw the little lady wrapped up warm in her winter wear, hard at work building a snowman.

Missile gave a happy little bark and bounded over to her. Kamila ceased her work to kneel down and pet him.

"Oh, it's you, Missile." Kamila looked up as the red headed detective approached. "Hi, Lynne."

"Hello." Lynne glanced at the heap of snow. "So you're building a snowman, are you?"

"Yeah. Dad even gave me some coal so I could make a face for it," Kamila said, gesturing at a little sack by her feet. "I've just got to get some twigs for the arms and a carrot for its nose. Would you like to help?"

"Unfortunately, I didn't bring my gloves with me," Lynne replied. "When I was little, I always used to go out to the park when it snowed and I would build snowmen. It was a lot of fun."

"The park? You mean Temsik Park?"

"Yeah..." For a moment, Lynne's face clouded over. "Back then I really did like to go to the park but one day I swore I would never set foot in that park ever again. Bad things happen there."

"Really?" Kamila tilted her head, regarding Lynne with curiosity. "It sounds like something happened when you were there. Something really bad?"

"Yes... but I would rather not talk about it. That was the day your dad brought Sissel home actually. I found him lying in the grass unconscious."

"Oh?" Kamila glanced at the kitten. "I wonder why he was unconscious?"

Sissel looked around, wondering where Missile had got to all of a sudden. He spotted the Pomeranian pushing aside a part of the fence that surrounded the garden. There had already been a small gap there and now it looked big enough for him to actually slip through. (I sure hope he's not planning on taking another trip into the big, wide world. Detective Jowd really needs to get that fence fixed.)

Sissel was just padding over to Missile when he let out an excited bark and started pushing his small body through the gap.

"Oh great... aren't Lynne and the little lady going to stop him?"

He glanced back, seeing that they were still talking. "So it's up to me to deal with the runaway little doggie? Figures."

Missile had just barely escaped through the gap as Sissel started running after him. The cat swiftly passed through the gap and caught sight of what had apparently got Missile so excited. A white van with a giant hotdog on top was coasting along the road. Missile barked again and tore off after the van, following it straight into the road.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sissel couldn't believe Missile was being so careless. The presence of food had apparently caused him to lose his wits and at this rate, he would too lose his life. Sissel raced after Missile, meowing loudly. His mews were however drowned out by the roar of a car engine. The car shot past him, bearing down on Missile.

Sissel came to a stop, unable to do anything but watch as the car struck Missile with a loud thud. Even with his ghost tricks, he couldn't stop something like a car. There was a resulting thud and the little doggie went sailing through the air to land on the pavement. The car squealed to a halt. Missile was no longer moving and Sissel knew he was already done for. He wearily shook his head. "Oh, Missile... what am I going to do with you?"

A woman had just got out of the car and was standing on the pavement with her hand over her mouth, staring in shock at Missile's crumpled form. Sissel hurried over, worrying that she might decide to pick up the body and take it somewhere else. That could make saving him considerably more difficult.

"Oh, honey, I've told you to be more careful when driving!" the woman exclaimed. "Now you've killed a little dog."

"That dog just came out of nowhere. I couldn't stop in time!" The frustrated sounding voice of a man floated through the open car window. "Besides, it's the owner's fault for being stupid enough to let their dog wander off. "

"But..." The woman shook her head. Her face looked considerably pale. "We have to find out who owns this dog and..."

"They can find their own damn dog. Now get back in the car!" the man snapped. "I'm already late as it is."

The woman got back into the car and it sped off down the road. Cars continued to zip noisily along. It seemed that nobody else had noticed the presence of a dead dog lying on the pavement. Sissel switched into the Ghost World. Time came to a stop and the entire world became red and black. He spotted the glowing core in Missile's body and reached out to it. The floating shape of a soul appeared before him.

"Hello? Missile?" Sissel couldn't help feeling a bit excited despite the tragic circumstances. It would be nice to be able to speak to someone in the Ghost World again. Of course, that would only be possible if Missile regained consciousness while he saved his life. There was no response from the soul. "So you're still unconscious then?" (Guess I'll just watch through the last four minutes of his life while I wait.)

Sissel turned back time and found himself in the garden again. He saw Lynne, Missile and himself come out through the back door and approach Kamila. After Kamila was done petting Missile, the dog's attention wandered elsewhere, leading him to the fence and the fairly obvious gap. Missile began pawing at the loose panel, widening the gap even further.

The rest of the events played out just as Sissel had seen them only a short while ago. "Now, how do I go about solving this?" (I wonder if I could do something about that fence.)

"Ooh... what's happening?" A familiar voice cut into his thoughts. Sissel turned his attention to the floating blue spirit. "I'm so confused. Hey, you there, do you know who I am? I can't seem to remember."

"Yeah, that would be a side-effect of dying. The dead tend to lose their memories at first," Sissel responded. "Your name is Missile and you are a Pomeranian."

"Missile...?" After a few seconds of silence, the blue shape disappeared and was replaced with the form of Missile. "Oh! Now I remember! And... and... it's you! You're really talking to me! I'm so happy to be able to speak to you again, Sissel!"

"Yeah, I'm glad too, but we can catch up later. Mind telling me what in the world you were thinking when you decided to run right into the road?"

"Huh, I did, didn't I?" Missile looked at the grayed out scene that depicted the end of his life. "Hmm... why did I do that again? That was really careless of me. Now I know why Miss Lynne always keeps me on that annoying leash. Every time we go for a walk, she puts it on me and when I try to run after something, it pulls on me and I can't breathe. To be honest... I really hate it!"

"Okay, Missile. You remember that van? I think you were chasing after it. It had a really big hot dog on it." (Why do they call it a hot dog anyway? I don't think it's actually made from dogs.)

"I certainly hope they aren't!" Missile exclaimed. "Ooh, I remember now. That huge sausage in a bun! When I saw it... I just had to go after it. I wanted to eat it so badly! But why was it on top of a van anyway? I've never seen anyone eat their food off there and I've never seen a sausage in a bun so big either."

"Yeah, it is strange, isn't it?" Sissel remarked. "Still, that was no reason to go putting your life at risk. Look where it led you."

"Yes, I should be more careful. It's a good thing you're around." Missile cocked his head, regarding Sissel with curiosity. "Come to think of it, how come you're here in the Ghost World and we're in my past? I thought your death was erased after we went back ten years."

"Not exactly. My original death might not have happened anymore, but I'm still dead. When we changed the course of the Temsik fragment that hit Yomiel, it got me instead. That's why I'm still a kitten even after all these years."

"Wow. So that means you're going to be like that forever, doesn't it? You'll never get older or anything. Are you okay with it though? Yomiel didn't seem very happy about it."

"Yeah, I'm fine with it. I like to just watch everything around me and it's hard to get bored with so many interesting things going on. Anyway, we can talk later. Let's get started on saving your life."

"Hmm... do you think maybe you could get that big sausage in a bun off the van for me? I bet that would solve things pretty fast."

Sissel gave Missile the best 'are you kidding me?' look he could considering he was a cat and rewound time back to the beginning. Now he was possessing Missile's soul on the pavement.

"I'll make my way to the garden and see if I can find a way to stop you from escaping." (It's just a matter of actually getting there at this point.) At that moment, a bicycle approached from behind. (Aha! Now's my chance!)

Sissel quickly attached himself to the bike. As it carried him toward the fence by Jowd's house, he hopped to the bag on the rider's back. He examined it, looking for some way to be able to manipulate it, and pulled back the zipper. The bag opened up and a loose piece of paper fluttered free.

"Oh no. That piece of paper came out of the man's bag and I don't think he even noticed," Missile observed. "I sure hope it wasn't something too important."

"If it was important, he probably wouldn't have stuffed it in his bag so carelessly. Look at it, it's half crumpled," said Sissel. (And so, by losing that piece of paper, I guess the man's fate changed a little.)

Sissel quickly attached himself to the paper and a gust of wind snatched it up, carrying it over the fence and into the garden. "Yes! Just what I was hoping for!" He quickly leaped off the paper and onto a little statue.

"Hold on a minute, it looks like you jumped really far there," Missile said. "I'm not just imagining things, am I?"

"No, you're right. I have a much longer reach than I did on that night and my ghost powers became a lot stronger over ten years. It could be because I have a Temsik fragment stuck in my body. It sure does make getting around much easier."

The past Missile was now wandering away from Lynne and Kamila. There was only a little time left before he would see the gap in the fence and push his way through to freedom.

(I have to stop Missile from escaping somehow. Maybe if I could get Lynne and the little lady to notice him trying to get through the fence, they could stop him.)

"But how are you going to do that?" Missile asked.

"Hmm. If I could find something that would make noise. A noisy thing you would normally find in a garden..." (Oh yeah, that thing. I think Detective Jowd keeps it in the shed.)

The shed was only a short distance away and Sissel quickly hopped over to it, attaching himself to a can of oil sitting on a shelf. There were various tools and machinery sitting inside this shed. Now, if he could just remember what that noisy thing Jowd was always taking out into the garden looked like. (I think it was called a mower. Aha, there it is!)

Sissel attached himself to the lawnmower and activated it. It came to life with a loud whirr and started moving forward until it crashed onto the door. "Oh yeah, I should get the door open first." After unlatching the door and swinging it open, Sissel reattached himself to the lawnmower.

Fortunately, Jowd had shoveled away most of the snow in the garden, putting it all into a thick pile at the end of the garden for Kamila to play with. Sissel had no trouble getting the lawnmower to move through the garden and toward the fence. Missile was now examining the gap and didn't seem to be paying any attention to the runaway lawnmower.

Lynne and Kamila however had heard the noise and turned around to see the cause of it. The machine came to a stop just a short distance away from the Pomeranian. Missile barked and started pushing himself through the gap.

"Missile!" Lynne gasped. "No, stop that!"

However, the detective's words had no effect on Missile. Either he didn't hear her or had chosen to ignore her. At that moment, it seemed the only thing he cared about was chasing down that giant hot dog.

"Lynne just asked you to stop and you're completely ignoring her," Sissel observed.

"Er, yes, that's a terrible habit of mine, I'm afraid. When I get excited about something I just don't seem to hear anything. I don't think even Miss Lynne's shouting will be able to stop me."

"Even if she comes running to get you, she might not make it in time. I have to do something more." Sissel jumped from the lawnmower to the loose panel. "This might hurt a bit." He pushed the panel back into place, trapping Missile in the gap. The Pomeranian gave a small yelp and struggled harder.

"Hey, be careful! I'm such a little dog, you know."

"I know but I have to stop you from getting out there." Sissel strained to keep the panel in place. Missile was wriggling even more furiously than before. At this rate, he would probably manage to slip through. Fortunately, Lynne was now running toward him.

"Missile!" Lynne leaped forwards and hit the ground, her hands closing around his body. She hauled him back and held him tightly in her arms. "You silly dog. What were you doing?"

"Well, how about that? It looks like I've saved your life yet again."

"I'm never going to be able to get that giant sausage in a bun, am I?"

"I'm afraid not. How were you planning on getting up there anyway?" Sissel asked.

"Oh, er... well, I don't know, honestly. It wasn't like I really had a plan," Missile answered, sounding sheepish. "I didn't think it through. Anyway, one good thing came out of all this!"

"Yes, I suppose you're right. Now we will be able to talk to each other," said Sissel. "Let's go back to the new present."

In the changed present, Sissel saw Jowd emerge from the back door and approach Lynne and Kamila. The little doggie was still clutched tightly in the arms of the female detective. He leaped across the garden to reclaim his body and walked back over to them.

"I could have sworn I heard something," Jowd said. He spotted the lawnmower. "What is that doing out of the shed?"

"Um, well, it just turned on all by itself and came out of the shed," Kamila explained. "We didn't do anything to it. I don't know how it happened."

"It was a good thing it happened though," said Lynne. "I wouldn't have noticed Missile trying to escape through that gap in the fence."

"Oh, I see." Jowd looked at Sissel with a knowing smile. "Well, I think someone was looking out for Missile."

Lynne rested her hand on her chin thoughtfully. "Who could it have been? I guess maybe the gods were protecting Missile today."

(Except I'm not a god."

"Alright, Missile, behave yourself. I'm going to be watching you so don't try anything." Lynne set the dog down. Missile reared up on his hind legs, letting out a joyful bark.

(And now everything is fine again. I hope it stays this way for a while longer.) Sissel sat there, watching as Jowd returned the mower to the shed and Kamila remembered the snowman she had been in the process of building, which she hurried back to. The ground suddenly plunged down beneath his feet, giving him a start. However, it was only Lynne picking him up. She cradled him in the nook of her arm and stroked him.

"I wonder," Lynne murmured. "You are a pretty special kitten, aren't you, Sissel?"

Sissel looked up at her smiling face and mewed. He longed to be able to actually talk to her, but for now, all he could do was listen to her. Would it be possible for her to one day remember what had happened on that fateful night in another time? She had thought his name sounded familiar so maybe there was a chance.

"I know you can't really speak to me. After all, you are a kitten. Still, I wonder if it was you who saved Missile. If it really was you, then thank you." She looked across the garden to Missile, who was watching Kamila. "Missile can be quite a handful. I'm glad to know there's someone else looking out for him. Who knows what might have happened if he got through that fence?"

(I do.)

"Anyway, I want to talk to Jowd about that case." Lynne gently placed the kitten down. "Missile, come on!" She wasn't about to leave him alone in the garden after what had happened and Kamila was too busy building the snowman to watch him.

This time, Missile obeyed her orders and reluctantly came back. The two animals followed her into the house. Lynne sat at the table and opened up her folder, then began speaking to Jowd. Sissel listened for a while but soon lost interest in whatever they were talking about. He still wasn't sure what a drug ring was, but it sounded dangerous and the case apparently revolved around trying to get rid of it.

"Miss Lynne is always so busy," Missile commented. "She leaves the house all the time and sometimes doesn't come back until it's really late. I know stomping out evil is important but I wish she would stay at home more often. It's kind of lonely."

"Being a detective seems like a really complicated and risky job. I'm sure Lynne can handle it, but I hope she doesn't decide to die five times in one night again."

"At least you can look out for her. You will protect Miss Lynne and Miss Kamila if anything ever threatens them again, won't you?"

"Of course I will, Missile." Sissel looked toward the two detectives who were still deep in discussion. Things were peaceful right now and he was very glad for that, but he knew just as well it might not last forever. If anything should ever threaten that peace, he would be ready for it.


	2. Chapter 2

A group of detectives sat around a table, listening intently to the voice coming over the phone's loudspeaker. Some of them had pens poised over their notebooks, ready to start writing.

"My team are the only ones listening to this call," the head detective was saying for the benefit of the person on the other side of the line. "I assure you that the call is completely confidential and nobody else will be hearing it."

"Are you really sure?" the young man who was speaking over the phone asked, his voice sounding shaky with nervousness. "The phone couldn't be bugged or anything, could it?"

Lynne tapped noisily on the pages of her pink notebook with her pen, resting her chin in one hand. She was beginning to grow impatient already listening to this person. If she was the one in charge of speaking to him, she would tell him in no uncertain terms to just spit it out already.

"Don't worry. There are no bugs," the head detective assured. "Now, in the message you left for us, you said you would tell us about this drug ring if we met your conditions. What are the conditions?"

"I will meet with someone to give them the information."

"Really? Why not just come down to the police station-"

"No! They could be watching me and if they see me coming down here, they might know I'm grassing on them. I can't risk that."

Lynne frowned. Whoever it was, he sounded really scared. He must have had a very good reason for wanting to tell the police or he wouldn't be doing this.

"Look," the man said again, "I have the information you need and you want to take them down. However, I want to stay alive. If you want this information, you'll have to do it on my terms. I'm already taking enough of a risk doing this."

"Alright," the head detective said hastily, "we'll do what you say. So, you'll meet with one of my detectives?"

"Could you possibly send a female police officer over? I would just feel safer if it was a woman."

"How sexist," Lynne muttered, earning some warning glances. "Sorry," she added hastily, ducking her head. Still, what kind of an attitude was that? Women could be perfectly dangerous too.

"We can arrange that," the head detective said. "When and where do you wish to meet?"

"I'll meet at the corner of Carnation Road, by the wall that surrounds the parking lot next to it at seven tonight. I'll be wearing a blue jacket so you'll know it's me."

"Okay. Someone will see you then." The head detective listened for the click of the phone as it was hung up then did the same. "Well then, who should we send to see him? It will have to be one of our women officers."

"I'll go!" Lynne exclaimed. The other detectives looked toward her in surprise. "Well, why not?"

"No offence, Lynne," said another detective, "but you are rather new to the job."

"Exactly! That's why I have to do these things so that I can gain more experience and become a great detective."

"Still, sometimes you can be a bit..."

"A bit what?" Lynne clenched a fist.

"That's enough," the head detective interjected before an argument could break out. "Lynne, are you sure you're up to this? We can't afford to lose this lead and we could send someone else to do it."

"I want to do this," Lynne insisted. "Don't worry, I won't mess up this time, I promise."

"Well, I can see you really want to do this." He kneaded his forehead with his fingers. "This man is obviously very nervous so you'll have to be gentle with him. Try not to scare him off."

"Hey, I just have to meet with him and get the information, right? I can handle it." Lynne sat back in her chair, smiling. "You can count on me to do it."

When the meeting was over, Lynne went to her desk and took out a packet of crisps from her drawer which she consumed while looking over case files. She was feeling quite excited thinking about her task tonight. Would they finally get the information they had been looking for? The young detective was determined to get it and swore nothing would get in her way.

"Hard at wooooork, baby?"

"Oh, hello, Inspector Cabanela." Lynne wheeled the chair around to face him. "I just got back from a meeting about my current case. Things are going well."

"Are they? That's good news. I'm just taking a break riiiiiiight now, would you like to accompany me?"

"Sure. I was just looking over some case files anyway." Lynne got up and walked alongside him. "I've got an exciting job tonight."

"Oh? What's thaaaat?"

"I'm meeting with a witness alone." Lynne lowered her voice as she spoke. "He's giving information about the case I'm working on."

"That drug thing, right? Well, you'll be careful, won't you?"

"Of course. I'm pretty excited about this. This is pretty big, me being allowed to take on such a risky job alone," Lynne said happily. "I feel like I'm closer to being a great detective already."

"Don't let it get to your head, baby. I learned not to do that the haaaard way."

"Yeah, I understand."

x-o-x-o-x

"Here you go, honey." A pretty brunette walked over to set down a steaming mug of coffee on the table. She glanced at the newspaper that her fiancé was currently perusing.

"Thank you." Yomiel carefully picked up the mug and took a sip of the steaming hot liquid. He set it back down and returned his attention to the newspaper.

"You're looking for a job? Is there anything interesting?"

"I suppose so, but I don't know if I will be able to get one." Yomiel sighed. "I don't think too many people will be eager to hire a man who just got out of jail after a ten year sentence. It's probably going to haunt me my whole life, Sissel."

"Now you're being dramatic." Sissel sat herself down in a chair. "I'm sure there's someone out there who isn't going to hold it against you. It wasn't your fault that detective bullied you even though you were innocent. You were scared."

"I took a little girl hostage. What I did was just inexcusable."

"Still, you weren't yourself then. They just have to understand that. So, what kind of job are you thinking of? Maybe you could get another computing job. You're still good at that, right?"

"I suppose so. I am definitely not going to work on anything that involves national secrets though." There was a sour tone to Yomiel's voice as he spoke. "I don't wish to be accused of being a spy again."

"Don't worry, you'll find something. Anyway, we don't have to worry too much about money. I spent the last ten years saving up enough money for our wedding and there's still quite a bit left over."

"You worked so hard for both of us all these years. Even after that awful crime I committed, you never even lost faith in me. I'm really lucky to have someone like you."

"I love you, Yomiel. Nothing will ever change that." Sissel leaned over and kissed his cheek.

Of course he didn't doubt that. Sissel was so devoted to him that she had even taken her own life upon hearing of his death. The image of her blood soaked body flashed through his mind and he shook his head, trying to dispel it. Even after all these years, the memory had never gone away. Sometimes he could scarcely believe he was actually looking at his living, breathing fiancée. It often felt like a wonderful dream.

"Yomiel?" Sissel looked at him in concern. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry. I was just lost in my thoughts." Yomiel flashed her a reassuring smile. Those ten years of suffering had been erased from history now. He was no longer a walking dead man whose only friend was a cat. Now he just had to put those memories behind him but it was hard. There were still times when he would suddenly wake up in bed, shaking and sweating. He had gone so far into darkness and barely escaped. Surely even Sissel would be horrified to know of the terrible things he had done.

The sound of the doorbell rang through the house.

"I wonder who that is?" Sissel hurried to the front door and opened it. "Hello. What is it?"

"Good morning, miss. Hope I'm not interrupting anything. Is Yomiel in?"

Yomiel recognised that voice to his surprise. He got up and went to join his fiancée's side. "Detective Jowd."

"Detective?" Sissel put a hand to her mouth. "Has something happened?"

"Oh no, don't worry. I'm not here on police business," Jowd said quickly. "This is only a personal call."

"Phew. I was scared for a moment." Sissel smiled weakly. "Come to think of it, your name sounds rather familiar." Her brow creased thoughtfully.

"We might as well let him in," Yomiel reminded her before she could get too lost in thought.

"Oh, right, sorry. It is cold outside, isn't it?" Sissel stepped aside. "Please come in. Would you like some tea or coffee?"

"No, that's alright, but thanks for the offer." Jowd came inside and followed them through to the lounge. "So, Yomiel, you're finally out of prison. You have your whole life ahead of you to look forward to now."

Yomiel nodded, looking away uncomfortably. "Yes, I suppose I do."

"I've got some things to do so I'll leave you to it." Sissel quickly made her exit, leaving the two men alone.

Yomiel stared in the direction she had gone for a moment before turning his attention back to Jowd. "So, what brings you here, Detective? I doubt you merely came over for a social call especially considering our history."

"Most of it is lost now, isn't it? My wife is alive, my daughter doesn't have to live with the trauma of seeing her die and I'm not in jail. I certainly don't have a grudge against you," said Jowd. "So, that woman is your fiancée, right? The one you lost that other time?"

"Yes. She waited all these ten years for me to come out of prison. I'm lucky to have such a devoted woman. Anyway, how come you're here?"

"I thought I would bring over an old friend of yours. I'm sure you've been longing to see him again." Jowd reached into the inside of his coat, pulling out a little black bundle of fur. Sissel looked up at Yomiel, letting out a mew.

"Huh?" Yomiel took Sissel from Jowd's outstretched arms, staring at the kitten with a look of utter disbelief. This kitten was Sissel, right? Of course he was. He even had the red necktie. And yet, he was still a kitten, not the fully grown cat he should have been. "What is this? Why is he so small?"

In a flash, the world around him disappeared and he found himself within a world of black and red, shifting and spiralling all around him. Though he knew this world well, it still alarmed him since he had never expected to be seeing it ever again and neither had he particularly wanted to.

"What's going on here?" Yomiel shouted. "Why am I back in this place?"

"Hello, Yomiel."

Yomiel turned around to face the ghostly form of the kitten. The sight filled him with dread and horror. "Sissel... you're dead? But... how?" Then it hit him. The cat who should have been an adult, but was frozen in the body of a kitten. It was just like his own situation. "No... don't tell me..."

"That's right. I was killed by the Temsik fragment."

"Oh, gods." Yomiel clutched his head as he shook it. "You mean, when we went back and changed my fate, you were hit instead? That wasn't supposed to happen! I never would have wanted you to go through all that suffering and despair that I did."

"Yomiel, I have not been going through suffering and despair," Sissel said patiently. "Really, it's fine."

"But... you'll be like this forever, trapped in limbo with no way out," Yomiel protested. "How can it be okay?"

"Maybe it's just easier for me because I'm a cat. I know you had such a hard time but it's not the same for me. I like just sitting and watching the lives of people around me. Humans are very interesting creatures," Sissel commented. "Come to think of it, what is the average lifespan of a cat?"

"Uh... fifteen years, I think?"

"And when those fifteen years have come and gone, I'm still going to be around. Even when you're old and on your deathbed, I won't be gone. Isn't that a good thing?"

Yomiel regarded him with a thoughtful expression. "Don't you miss being alive though?"

"Well, I do miss some things like feeling the heat of the sun on my body when I'm napping or being able to taste my food, but they are small sacrifices to make. I can get run over by a bus and not even get hurt or worse. It's rather nice to be invincible. Besides, it's a good thing I still have my ghost tricks. I have already had to save one friend and I have a feeling the Grim Reaper will be back for Lynne one day."

"I see." Yomiel looked down sadly. "Well, I hope you never change your mind."

The Ghost World faded away and Yomiel held the kitten to his chest, stroking him. "So, it was the Temsik fragment."

"He told you about it, did he?" Jowd guessed.

"Yeah. I suppose I still have a core of the dead." Yomiel sat down in a chair, continuing to pet Sissel. "Once you have one, you have it forever, it seems. Thank you for bringing him. I had been missing him."

"And I missed you too," Sissel said. "I really do like living with Jowd and his family though. It still kind of scares me when I see Kamila setting up that contraption though."

"That contraption? Oh, right." Yomiel hardly wanted to remember it, especially what he had used it for. How could he have thought of manipulating a little girl's birthday surprise into killing her mother right before her eyes?

Sissel sensed it would be a good idea to change the subject. "So you really spent all those ten years in jail? It sure is a long time."

"Yeah, well, when you steal a detective's gun and use it to escape custody then take a child hostage while pointing the gun at another detective, you're not going to get off with just a slap on the wrist. Considering all those crimes I committed in that other timeline, ten years is a lot less than what I deserve."

"You shouldn't be punishing yourself over it, Yomiel. All of that stuff you did after the Temsik meteorite killed you never happened anymore."

"If only it was that easy to forget about it." Yomiel smiled ruefully. "Letting go of such a troubled past is harder than it looks."

Sissel looked around the room, spotting a telephone. "Excuse me. I'm just going to get your number." His body went limp.

Jowd regarded Sissel's body quizzically. "Now where's that cat gone?" Yomiel gestured at the telephone. "Oh, I see."

Sissel quickly returned and stood up on the man's lap, arching his back and mewing. The sound brought Yomiel's fiancée into the room with a confused look on her face.

"Did I just hear a cat meow?" Her gaze fell upon the little black kitten and she let out an exclamation. "Oh, what a cute little kitten!" She gathered him up in her arms and started petting him. "Where did it come from?"

"Er, I brought him over," Jowd replied. "I thought Yomiel would like to see him."

"Really?" Fiancée Sissel raised an eyebrow. "That's nice of you, but why?"

"I met the cat before," Yomiel said cautiously. He didn't want her to know too much about that other timeline. "In Temsik Park."

"Temsik Park? You're not talking about ten years ago, are you? No, surely not, he's just a kitten."

"A very special kitten. He's actually ten years old," said Jowd.

"Oh wow." The young woman stared into the cat's yellow eyes in amazement. "Huh, Temsik Park... wait, your name is Detective Jowd? Aren't you the detective who chased Yomiel down in that park?"

"Yeah. I know it seems strange for me to turn up at his house with a kitten," Jowd said. "Believe me, I would think so too."

She just nodded, looking at the kitten uncertainly while scratching his head. "What's his name?"

"His name is Sissel," said Yomiel.

"You named a kitten after me? Huh... I don't mind, but isn't it odd to give it to a male cat?"

Sissel narrowed his eyes and glanced at Yomiel.

"It is a unisex name," Yomiel said defensively. "At least, I think it is."

"Oh, well, it was really sweet of you." Sissel handed the kitten back to Yomiel. She looked at the detective. "You know, he wasn't himself that day in the park."

"Yes, I understand that. There's no need to explain." Jowd exhaled heavily. "My colleague pushed him too far and made the mistake of leaving his gun behind, then I made things worse. Part of the blame lies on us."

"It's all in the past now and we shouldn't dwell on it. I just want to concentrate on our future," Yomiel said. "Right now, I'm just concerned with being able to get a job. Hopefully someone out there doesn't mind hiring ex-cons."

"I hope things will work out for you. You've already been punished for your crime after all," said Jowd. "Anyway, I'm sure I've stayed long enough now."

"Right." Yomiel got up to hand the kitten over to him. "Thanks again, Detective."

After exchanging farewells, Jowd left the house.

"Well, that was interesting. I never knew you befriended a kitten and even named it after me."

"I guess I just didn't think it was important enough to mention. Anyway, it's not like he's really my cat." Yomiel bit back the 'anymore' he wanted to append to that sentence.

"Okay. I'll let you get back to job hunting."

Yomiel rubbed his forehead and slowly exhaled in relief. That had certainly gone much easier than he expected. He wouldn't have wanted to tell her she killed herself in another time, resulting in him naming his kitten after her. Hopefully he would never even have to tell her about that other time.

x-o-x-o-x

"Here, Sissy. Come and get it!" Kamila dangled the little stuffed mouse over the kitten's head. Sissel crouched low, waving his tail as he prepared to pounce. A moment later, he leaped. His claws latched onto the soft fabric and he sank his teeth down into the toy.

Kamila pulled the mouse further up, watching Sissel dangle around in mid-air and giggled. "Aren't you going to let go?"

The family was enjoying a peaceful evening after dinner. While Kamila entertained herself, her mother was sat in front of the television and her father was hard at work in his office. The peace was soon interrupted by the shrill ring of the telephone.

Alma muted the television and hurried over to answer the phone. "Hello? Yes, he's here. Jowd! It's for you!"

Sissel detached himself from the toy and dropped down. Jowd came into the room to take the phone and started talking. Rather than jump into the phone, Sissel decided to just listen to Jowd's side of the conversation. (It's probably nothing too important anyway.)

"Two murders?" Jowd spoke in a hushed voice. "What... Lynne?" His voice rose in alarm.

Though Sissel had been expecting it to happen sometime, he still got that sinking feeling. (She really can't stay out of trouble, can she?)

"Where? Right, got it. I'll be over there as soon as possible." Jowd set the phone down and went to pick Sissel up. "Sorry, Kamila, I just have to borrow Sissel for a bit."

"Okay, Dad," Kamila replied, though she seemed utterly confused.

Jowd hurried out of the house to his car. "It looks like there's more work for you, Sissel."

"Yeah, that figures," Sissel said to himself. (I wonder what she got into this time.)


	3. Chapter 3

Jowd parked the car close to the crime scene and came racing over. Sissel peered out of the detective's coat pocket to get a good look. There were two policemen standing in the road who greeted Jowd and pointed out the location of the bodies.

Inspector Cabanela was there, kneeling on the ground and looking over Lynne's body with a distraught expression. "How could thiiiiis happen?" he lamented, putting a hand to his forehead and slowly shaking his head.

(Lynne... so she's dead after all.) Sissel scrutinised the scene. Lynne lay sprawled out on her back, clutching her pistol in one hand. A dark red stain spread across the top of her dress.

There was another corpse lying a short distance away, slumped against the wall. This person appeared to be a clean-shaven young male whom Sissel didn't recognise. There was a large blood stain decorating his shirt. It looked like he had died in the same manner Lynne had.

"Who is this person? Was Lynne meeting with him... and why?" (I'll just have to ask her myself, I suppose.)

"Cabanela." Jowd approached him. His gaze shifted over to Lynne. "What a terrible tragedy this is."

"I can't believe it," Cabanela said thickly. "My baby had just become a detective and now she's dead. I shouldn't have let her do something so dangerous. I should have made them send someone else."

"Do you really think Lynne would have wanted you to do that?" Jowd looked at him sharply. "She knew that being a detective was dangerous but she chose to do it anyway. She wouldn't want to hear you saying such things."

"Yes, you're riiiight, I'm sorry." Cabanela hung his head in silence for a few seconds. "I just wish there was something I could have done. I feel like I let my baby down. She was so excited about this job. That man over there was a contact she was meeting with. Now they are both dead." He made a disgusted noise. "The police are looking for the creeeep who did this, but chances are he's long gone by now."

"It's quite the awful turn of events." Jowd lifted Sissel out of his pocket. "Maybe there's a way to turn things round."

"Hold on, Jowd." Cabanela stood up, giving the kitten a strange look and raising an eyebrow. "Why in the world would you bring your cat to a criiiime scene?"

"Well, this little kitten here has a few secrets of his own. Would you believe me if I told you he was capable of bringing people back to life?"

Cabanela folded his arms, regarding Jowd with a wary look. "That would be quiiite a tall tale and I would be inclined to say you're off your rocker. Still, I've known you for a long time and while you may be a bit crazy sometimes, you're definitely not thaaat crazy." He turned away, looking once again at Lynne's corpse. "There's nothing more I would like right now than to have my baby alive."

"A miracle might just happen." Jowd smiled. He whispered to Sissel, "You had better be able to save her or I really will look crazy."

(Thanks for the vote of confidence, Detective Jowd.) Sissel jumped down and walked over to Lynne. He looked up and met the Inspector's gaze, seeing tears glistening in his eyes. Lynne's death was hitting him hard and understandably so. Sissel entered the Ghost World and reached out to the glowing core.

A blue flame was now hovering before Sissel, not making a sound.

"Are you awake?" Sissel asked.

"Huh... a cat is speaking to me?" The voice sounded uncertain. "I may not remember much right now, but I'm still pretty sure that cats can't talk."

"It's more like our thoughts are being beamed directly to each other actually. That's just one of the perks of being in the Ghost World, Lynne." (Come to think of it, are there other perks?)

"Then I'm a ghost? Does that mean I get to haunt people?"

"No. If you had ghost tricks, I suppose you could, but you don't. Besides, I'm supposed to be saving your life." (Just who does this detective plan on haunting anyway?)

"I'm a detective? Ah... I think I remember now!"

There was a flash of white as the soul changed shape. Sissel was expecting to see the familiar redhead standing before him in the next instant, but instead he saw a certain bearded man in a green coat. The ghostly kitten could only stare incredulously at the spectacle before him. Lynne had done it again, and this time it was another detective. She really was bad at this.

"I've got a big job to do tonight!" Lynne exclaimed. "I can't let anything stop me!"

"You're the dead one!" Sissel exclaimed, finally finding the words once he was over the initial shock. "Does he look dead to you?"

"Okay, okay! There's no need to yell at me." The image of Jowd faded away to be replaced by Lynne, who was giving him an annoyed look. "It's really confusing when I'm standing in some freaky looking void and a cat is talking to me. Wait a minute... I know you from somewhere, don't I?"

"I'm Detective Jowd's cat. Sissel."

"Oh... yeah, now I remember you. Then you're dead too?" Lynne put her hands over her mouth. "Oh no. What happened?"

"I was already dead. It's a long story so let's save it for after I save your life. Right now, we should be more concerned about your death, shouldn't we? Do you remember what happened? You were meeting with a contact tonight about your case."

"Yeah, I was, wasn't I?" Lynne frowned. "I talked to him... my memory is still fuzzy, but I think he was killed. Then they got me as well. Argh! How could this happen when I had just become a detective? I was so excited about getting this job too and then I had to go and die."

"It seems like you've been cursed with some really bad luck. Don't worry, I'm going to do my best to save you and that's a promise."

"That's really kind of you, but how are you going to do that? I'm already dead," Lynne pointed out.

"Just watch and see."

Sissel proceeded to turn back the clock and take them to the world of four minutes prior to Lynne's death. They saw the young man who Lynne had been meeting with speaking into a phone on the wall. A moment later, the living Lynne approached him.

"Huh?" Lynne stared at the scene, her eyes as big as saucers. "Are we actually back in time?"

"That's right. We're going to watch your death play out and then I'll figure out how I'm going to save you."

"So you're some kind of time travelling ghost cat?" Lynne turned her gaze to Sissel, her mouth hanging open. "Sure, I heard you were special, but this really wasn't the sort of thing I had in mind."

"Really? What were you thinking?"

"Well, I was thinking maybe you had found something like a fountain of eternal youth and you kept going to drink from it."

"A fountain of what?" Sissel asked in disbelief. (Yet again, I have no idea what this woman is talking about.)

"Eternal youth! You know, limitless life?" Lynne smiled. "Something that would let you live for much longer than usual."

"Does such a thing even exist?"

"If a time travelling ghost cat can exist, why can't a fountain of youth?"

"Okay..." Sissel was growing even more confused by the minute and didn't really want to have to deal with that while he was busy saving her life. "As much as I'm enjoying this, er, conversation, shouldn't we focus on the more important matter? Namely preventing your death?"

"Oh! Right!" Lynne giggled sheepishly. "Heh, I forgot I was dead for a bit there."

(How in the world could you forget?) Sissel thought despairingly. Even in this new time where she hadn't yet suffered a string of deaths, she was still taking it ridiculously lightly. He unfroze time, allowing the four minutes to play out.

The past Lynne was waiting patiently while the man talked on the phone. He glanced at her briefly, then muttered something into the receiver before putting it back with a little more force than necessary.

"You're the contact, right?" Lynne asked. "The man who called the police station about the drug ring?"

"Uh... yeah, yeah, that's right." The man looked unnaturally pale and sweaty. It seemed his body was shaking a bit. "Actually, I don't know if this is a good idea." He looked around nervously. "Someone is watching us."

"What are you talking about?" Lynne asked uncertainly. She too looked around but didn't appear to see anything out of the ordinary. "We are the only two people here, aren't we? Nobody should know you're meeting me here."

"Yeah, but... I don't know. Maybe it was just some loon."

Lynne tilted her head, giving him a quizzical look, but he didn't seem to notice.

"Man, I'm really scared." The man leaned against the wall, taking a few deep breaths. "I guess there isn't anything to worry about though. If they knew I was meeting you here to grass on them, I would probably be dead by now."

"Right. There's nothing to worry about." Lynne smiled encouragingly. "You just tell me what you know and we'll bust this drug ring. Come to think of it, if you're so scared of them, why are you doing this? Sure, we appreciate it, but it seems kinda weird you'd do this if you're so afraid."

"Those bastards killed my best friend," the man spat out. "I'm just doing this for him. He didn't deserve to go out the way he did. If I can take them down, his death will be avenged."

"I see. I'm sorry to hear about that. So, what have you got for me?"

"I wanted to give this to you. There should be enough information to help you get these guys." The man unzipped his jacket and reached into it, extracting a bulky parcel.

The sound of a gun being fired rang out and a bullet whistled through the air, burying itself in the man's chest. His back hit the wall and he slowly dropped to the ground. His head lolled onto his shoulder and his eyes fluttered shut.

Lynne gasped and dropped to her knees, anxiously shaking his shoulder. "Hold on!" When he didn't move, she checked for his pulse and the horrifying truth dawned on her. He was aready dead.

The detective got to her feet, drawing her gun and aiming it. "Who's there? Show yourself at once!" She stepped away from the corpse, looking around desperately for the killer. "Where are you?"

The silence was once again split by the crack of a gunshot. Lynne jerked back, her eyes widening in horror. Her body hit the ground with a dull thud and she became completely still.

"So, that's what happened," Sissel said. "You two were shot."

"And it looks like we were hit from quite a distance too," Lynne said. "I never saw or heard anyone else. Someone must have been hiding with a sniper rifle."

"Great. That's going to make things a little more difficult. I'll have to find a way to get to the killer somehow."

"This might be the first time you've come to save my life, but you know what? I still feel like I can believe in you. For some reason, I just know deep down that you can do it." Lynne gave him a confident smile. "Go for it, Sissel!"

"Thanks... I'll try my best." Sissel rewound time once more. "I wonder where the killer was shooting from."

"It must have been quite high," Lynne guessed. "Maybe he's in one of those buildings nearby."

Sissel looked away from the wall to an apartment building opposite. He looked from window to window, hoping to catch a glimpse of anyone suspicious. "I can't really see much from here." He looked back to the past Lynne, who was now talking to the man. (I'd better figure something out to do, and fast!)

"Hold on... wasn't there something strange about the conversation? When we first started talking?"

"Was there?"

"Yeah... he seemed to think that someone was watching us. Then he passed it off as being some loon, whatever that was about. He never did get round to explaining what he meant."

"Well, I guess he was right."

"I thought he was just being paranoid, but it looks like he wasn't after all." Lynne sighed. "I should have listened to him. So, what did he mean by some loon?"

Sissel looked at the apartment building again and scanned for cores. If he could see where the killer was, then maybe he had a chance. Still, getting that high could be tricky. It was too bad he couldn't take his body four minutes back into the path.

Time continued to trickle on by and still he couldn't see anyone suspicious. It was starting to become painfully apparent that the killer didn't intend to show himself until the last minute.

"Sissel? What are we going to do?" Lynne asked, her voice filled with concern. "Time is running out."

"Yeah, I know that. I just don't see the killer yet. Until I know where he is, I can't really do much about him."

A moment later, a man leaned out of one of the apartment windows, aiming a sniper rifle squarely at his target.

"There he is!" Lynne shouted, bunching up a fist. "That murdering monster! When I get my hands on him, I'll teach him what happens to people who go round shooting others."

The first shot rang out and the contact fell down.

"Hmm..." Sissel turned his attention to the corpse. "It wouldn't hurt to go back a little bit further." He quickly latched onto the body's core.

"Hello?" Lynne spoke to the blue flame that was now floating before them. "I said, hello! Huh... why isn't he talking?"

"He's unconscious, Lynne. Those who die tend to be like that at first. Anyway, we'll go to this guy's past and use the extra time to get to the shooter."

"Sounds like a plan," Lynne said eagerly. "So, what are you going to do, rough him up? I'd sure like to see that."

(There's that gleam in her eyes. It's kind of scary.)

Again, the two cycled back through time to watch the man's last four minutes of life. They saw him standing against the wall, looking around nervously.

"When is she going to get here?" the man asked himself, sounding agitated. "This wait is killing me."

The phone suddenly rang, startling him out of his wits. He looked tentatively at the phone then picked up the handset. "Hello?" The man talked into the handset for a short while before hanging up. The rest of the scene played out as expected up to the man's untimely death.

"Huh, that's strange," Lynne commented.

"What is?"

"He wasn't the one who made the call. Now why would someone be calling that phone?"

"It could have been a wrong number."

"If it was, wouldn't he have hung up right away? I think... that might have been the loon!"

"In other words... the killer. This could be our chance!" Sissel exclaimed. Travelling through the phone line would be a lot quicker than jumping from core to core. He rewound time and immediately jumped into the telephone as it rang.

The man picked the phone up. "Hello?"

On the other end, Sissel saw a man sitting on a chair, peering through the window. A sniper rifle was resting between his legs.

"So tell me, what's a young lad like you doing out there all alone tonight?"

"Huh?"

"I can see you, you know, just standing there by the wall. You look pretty nervous."

"Wh-who is this? Why are you calling me? Are you..."

"I'm just a guy looking through the window." The killer chuckled softly. "Why? Are you afraid of something? You sound scared to me."

"Seriously, who the hell are you?"

"Don't worry about me. Oh, I can see a pretty lady over there. Is she your date for tonight? What a strange place to be meeting in private."

"I'm done talking to you. Don't bother calling again, weirdo."

Sissel quickly zipped through the phone line before he could hang up. The killer stared at the handset with a smirk then set it down, chuckling to himself.

"Looks like that kid is scared out of his wits," he said. "He never knew that we had his phone bugged. The boss was sure he might try something like this after we killed that no-good friend of his. Just got to kill them both with my friend here. It will be a piece of cake."

"Well, he's not going to be getting any cake. Not here and not in jail. Right, Sissel?" Lynne said cheerfully.

"I guess." Sissel scanned the room, trying to come up with some ideas. They had to stop this killer from firing his gun somehow. "Let's see... how about this?" He hopped to the window blind and yanked it down.

"H-hey!" The man jumped from the chair in surprise. "How did that happen?"

"Uh, can't he just pull the blind back up?" Lynne pointed out.

"I'm not finished yet! Now..." Sissel darted over to the light switch and flicked it, plunging the entire room into darkness.

"What the? Now it's a power outage?" The man turned around and stepped away from the window. "Well, whatever. I don't need any light to shoot from the window. Better get back to watching them."

"Not so fast." Sissel possessed the rug beneath his feet and sharply yanked it, causing the man to crash to the floor. The sniper rifle fell from his hold and clattered to the floor.

"Just what the hell is going on?" the man shouted. Now he was sounded scared out of his wits. "It's like this place is haunted!"

"I guess he figured it out. Maybe we could just scare him into not firing his gun," Lynne suggested.

"I doubt he's going to let a little thing like ghosts stop him from doing his job," Sissel said. "There has to be something more we can do. Maybe we need a distraction."

"Ugh... where did my gun go?" Now the killer was fumbling around for his gun. "I don't care what's going on in this room, I've got to kill them both."

Sissel hopped around the room, finding himself on a bookshelf. "Hey, this bookshelf is kind of wobbly. I wonder if I could use this?"

"You mean, knock it down on top of him?" Lynne asked.

Sissel started wobbling the bookshelf with all his strength. The man, who had now reclaimed his sniper rifle, turned around as he heard it rocking back and forth.

"Huh? What's that noise?" The man made his way toward the bookshelf.

"Ugh... I guess my ghost powers aren't strong enough," Sissel said in disappointment. "So much for that idea."

"Wait! Look at that statue on top of the bookshelf!" Lynne exclaimed. "It moved."

Sissel looked up at the object Lynne was speaking of. It was a marble statue of a man pointing a sword skyward. The sword itself looked very sharp. The statue was now precariously close to the edge. "Aha... this should work." He gave the bookshelf one final push and the statue toppled over.

At that moment, the killer looked up. In the darkness, he was unable to see the statue plunging toward him. The sword embedded itself squarely in his forehead. There was a loud clatter as the sniper rifle fell from his limp hand. His body toppled backward with a crash and he lay still, staring up at the ceiling with glassy eyes while blood trickled from his forehead.

"That was kind of gruesome," Lynne commented, looking away from the scene with a grimace. "I guess he won't be going to jail now. So, it looks like my death as well as that guy's have been averted now, huh?" She smiled. "You did it, Sissel!"

"Yeah, it looks like it. Murders aren't easy to prevent."

"So, now that's out of the way, how come you're a ghost and you have those awesome powers? I really wish I had those too."

Sissel proceeded to explain to her about the meteorite that had fallen in Temsik Park. Just like in that other timeline, she hadn't even known about it. After that, it was time for them to return to the present.

"Hey, Sissel. Will we be able to talk to each other again?"

"Sure. You don't even have to die."

"Okay, great. I guess I'll see you tomorrow when I come over to Detective Jowd's."

"Be sure to bring Missile along. I'm sure he would appreciate it."

"Right, I'll do that."

Sissel returned to the present, inside the dark room where the man was still lying dead. There was of course a core glowing on his corpse when Sissel jumped into the Ghost World, but he thought better than to touch it. Besides, what would he even say to the person whose death he had caused? The man might have been a killer, but taunting him about his death seemed a bit cruel.

(Still, I wouldn't mind seeing the look on his face when he learns he was done in by a cat. Oh well... better get home.)

In the changed present, his body wouldn't be where he had left it anymore. This whole process of altering time could get a little confusing. Lynne hadn't died thus Jowd wouldn't have been called out and his body would be at home. He made his way through the phone line and searched for his body, finding it curled up in his basket.

Sissel walked into the living room and jumped up onto the sofa next to Kamila, who was watching the television with her mother.

"Sissy! You're awake!" Kamila petted him happily. "You really are a deep sleeper."

Luckily, Jowd had made the excuse that his occasional moments of going limp and doing nothing whatsoever were due to an acute case of narcolepsy. Whenever Sissel left his body and Alma or Kamila noticed, they would just assume he was in a very deep sleep. That way, he would never have to worry about being buried.

Sissel lay on his back across Kamila's lap, letting her rub his belly. He wondered how many more times Lynne was going to be running into the Grim Reaper. Of course, he would save her each and every time.

x-o-x-o-x

Lynne came over the next morning with Missile in tow. Sissel came over to greet her and she picked him up. "Hi, Sissel." The world around her flared red and Sissel's ghost form appeared before her. "Thanks for last night."

"Did everything go okay after I was gone?"

"Yeah. The guy handed over the information and I took it straight to the police station. I wonder if he's going to be alright, though. Those people might still be after him. Anyway, at least we have a chance of taking that drug ring now, thanks to me."

"... And me."

"Oh yeah, of course. I couldn't have done it without you. You would make a pretty useful partner actually," Lynne said. "Who knows when I might die again?"

"Miss Lynne!" Missile exclaimed, suddenly appearing before the two. "You died? Oh, thank goodness Sissel was able to save you. I don't know what I'd do if you were gone."

"Missile?" Lynne gave him a bewildered stare. "Hold on, if you're here too, that means you died as well."

"I'm sorry! I just couldn't help it. That huge sausage in a bun was calling to me!"

Lynne looked even more confused now. She turned her gaze toward the kitten, silently begging for answers.

"He's talking about a giant hot dog he saw on top of a van," Sissel explained. "Remember the lawnmower incident? That was me saving his life. He saw the van and thought it would be a really good idea to chase it into the road."

"I wanted to eat it so badly. It looked so delicious."

"Uh..." Lynne fell silent, apparently at a loss for words.

"It seems giant food is really dangerous," Sissel muttered.

"What?" Lynne gave him a questioning look.

"Never mind. Say, Lynne... you haven't remembered anything in particular, have you? Anything strange?"

"No. Should I?"

"I suppose not." Sissel felt a twinge of disappointment. Maybe it was just too soon for her to remember anything.

"Alright, well, I'm going to have a chat with Detective Jowd now." Lynne set the kitten down and walked away, leaving the two pets alone together.

"Sissel?" Missile spoke. "Do you think Miss Lynne will be able to recall anything from that time?"

"I'm not really sure, but she seemed to know my name so there might be a chance."

"I wonder if Miss Kamila will remember too? Sure, she lavishes lots of attention on me when I come over, but I would like her to remember when I was her little doggie."

"Actually, Missile, I'm not sure it's such a great idea for her to remember."

"What? Why?"

"Well, look at what happened to her in the other timeline. Her birthday surprise ended up killing her mother in front of her and her father put himself in jail because of it. I'm sure she liked living with you and Lynne, but she suffered a lot during those five years."

"Oh, I see. It would be terrible if Miss Kamila had to remember those awful things. I never want her to go through any pain again."

"Neither do I. I'm sure she'll be just fine though," Sissel assured him. "I'm more concerned about Lynne, honestly. That woman just can't seem to keep out of trouble."

Lynne dying again was almost a certainty. Would he be able to save her again? Sissel was pretty sure of it. He never considered the possibility that the day might come when he couldn't do that.


	4. Chapter 4

Sissel dropped by Lynne's apartment via the phone line. Lynne was watching a news broadcast on the television and Missile lay on the floor, slowly waving his tail back and forth.

"Huh, looks like the television doesn't always send that little doggie into frenzied barking fits," Sissel observed. (Or maybe he knows better than to misbehave when Lynne is around.) He reached out to Lynne's core. "Hey, Lynne. Anything interesting on the news?"

"Oh, Sissel. Good morning," Lynne said. "It's kind of startling to have unseen house guests jumping into my head out of nowhere."

"Sorry about that. I just thought I'd come and see how you were doing."

"No, it's okay. I'll just have to get used to it. Anyway, no, there's not much happening on the news. Do you actually watch the television?"

"Sometimes. If there was anything going on in this town, I sure would like to know."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that. We're just dealing with the usual murderers, thieves, drug dealers, that kind of thing." Lynne paused. "Wow, that makes this place sound a lot worse than it really is. Of course, it isn't crime central either. Are you planning to be a detective, Sissel? I could put in a good word for you if you like."

"No, no, that's fine, thanks. So, are you working today?"

"Oh, Miss Lynne, please say no!" Missile interrupted. "Why don't we go out for a walk and do some fun things together? Please?"

"Missile... you don't like being alone, do you? Maybe I should leave you at Detective Jowd's when I'm working if his family's okay with it. You really like Kamila, don't you?"

"Yes, of course I do! I swore that I would always protect Miss Kamila," Missile declared. "Hmm, not that I'm really able to do that when I don't even live in the same house as her anymore."

"Anymore?" Lynne repeated, frown lines creasing her brow.

"Are you working then?" Sissel asked, trying to divert her back to the original line of conversation.

"I'll be going in later," Lynne replied. "Sorry about that, Missile. First though, I really could do with some coffee. I'll go make some right now." The young detective rose from the sofa and walked into the kitchen.

"You threw her for a loop there, Missile," Sissel commented.

"Why don't we just tell her?"

"Give her time. I'm sure she will remember soon enough. I noticed that you weren't barking at the television."

"Yeah, Miss Lynne can be kind of scary when she comes after me with the broom. It just isn't the same without Miss Kamila. She would always hug me when I barked."

"Oh man, I don't believe it!" Lynne shouted. "I'm out of milk!" She came back, looking frustrated. "I'm going to have to pop out to the store to get some. I won't be long."

"You really need that coffee, huh?" Sissel asked.

"Of course I do. It's practically a requirement when you're a detective." Lynne snatched up her coat, purse and keys. "Missile, behave yourself when I'm gone. Sissel, you make sure he does what I say."

"Hey, I'm not your servant."

"Don't worry, Miss Lynne, I'll be ever so good! I promise!"

"Okay, see you later." Lynne exited the apartment, leaving the two of them alone.

Missile lay down on the floor. "Poor Miss Lynne... she's so busy with her job she keeps forgetting to go out and buy stuff. I just hope she never forgets to buy more food for me. That would be awful."

"Not having food is something I don't have to worry about these days." Sissel moved across the room to the star ornament atop the Christmas tree and started to play it. A soft melody played out. "Ah, this brings back memories."

The melody however was soon drowned out by the Pomeranian's exuberant barking.

"Missile, how am I supposed to enjoy this nice tune when you're barking like that?"

"Oh, sorry... it's really hard not to bark at it!"

"Yeah, I can see that." Sissel quickly silenced the ornament. "I don't want to annoy Lynne's neighbours."

"Come to think of it, that lady next door never gets mad at me for barking anymore," Missile said. "I haven't heard her angry howl even once since we came back to the present."

"That's because she's not living next door in this time. When we saved Yomiel, she no longer had a reason to move in."

"Okay, I don't really understand why but I'll take your word for it."

Sissel decided to explore the rest of Lynne's apartment and busied himself with travelling through the other rooms. It was a small apartment and he was soon done with looking around. He returned to the living room and occupied himself with watching the television. Missile was curled up in a ball, quietly snoozing.

Some time had passed before Sissel started to grow a little impatient. He played the star ornament again to wake Missile up. "Hey, Missile, how long does it usually take Lynne to get there and back anyway?"

"Huh? Well, I can't tell time very well. For me, there's a short time, a long time and a really, really long time! But I would say a short time."

"I see. It feels like it's been a while since she left."

"Maybe she just had to do something else on the way. You're worrying too much, you know? I'm sure she's fine."

"Yeah, I guess." (It's not like she's going to die just going out to get milk, right? Still, it's Lynne...)

The minutes crept on by and still there was no sign of Lynne.

"Hmm, she is taking a long time," Missile commented. "I wonder what happened."

"I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe I should tell somebody." (There aren't a lot of people with cores of the dead that I know of though. Apart from Lynne... well, there's Yomiel, and that's it.)

"So, are you going to talk to him then?"

"I suppose so. Hopefully he will be at home." Sissel leaped into the phone and made his way over to Yomiel's house. He was able to find the blond man in the kitchen, finishing off breakfast. "Yomiel!"

"Huh? Sissel? Is something wrong?"

"It's Lynne. She went out to buy some milk and didn't come back yet and it's been a long time. I'm getting worried about her. You're the only person other than her I can talk to so I had to come to you."

"I see. You're probably worrying over nothing," Yomiel said. "She could have met a friend on the way and stopped to talk to them, for instance."

"Maybe... but I just need to be sure. What if she's lying dead somewhere?"

"Is she really that good at dying? I thought that was just a very unlucky night for her. How many times did she die that night anyway?"

"Five times. She's already died once in this time actually. Please, Yomiel, can't you help me out just this once?"

"Okay. I just have to go and get ready first. Then I need to think of a good excuse for my fiancée when she asks where I'm going so early in the morning. I'm not sure she'll buy that I'm helping out a paranoid ghost."

"P-paranoid? If you had to save someone from death so many times, you would be fearing for their life too!"

"I suppose so." Yomiel smiled wryly. "She really has you running ragged, doesn't she? Well, just wait there. I'll be back in a bit."

(Hmm, maybe he has a point,) Sissel thought after Yomiel had left the room. (I probably am worrying too much, but... I just need to be sure she's okay.)

x-o-x-o-x

A while later, Yomiel and Sissel were standing outside the apartment block where Lynne lived. Sissel was currently possessing a wallet Yomiel had stuffed into his jacket for ease of carrying him around.

"Okay, we're here at her apartment. Now we just need to find the store." Spotting someone coming across the street, Yomiel stopped them. "Excuse me, can you tell me where the nearest store is?"

Five minutes later, they were standing before it.

"Hmm, it didn't take long to get here, did it?" Sissel remarked. "I wonder if she did make it here at all."

"I'll ask inside." Yomiel walked in and approached the counter. "Excuse me, did a red-haired woman come in here? She wears her hair up in this pretty, er, distinctive style."

"Are you talking about Lynne? She comes here pretty often," replied the store owner. "However, she didn't come in this morning, I'm afraid."

"I see. Thanks for your help." Yomiel left the store. "So, she never arrived. Something must have happened on the way."

"I knew it," Sissel said dismally. "She must be lying dead somewhere. What if she died in the street and they already moved her?"

"I think the police would still be around if something had happened. The area is much too calm for something like that to have taken place," Yomiel pointed out. "She might have died where nobody would have seen her."

"This is just getting better and better," Sissel deadpanned.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she can't be far. We'll just have to look for her."

It wasn't long before they managed to find what they were looking for. Down an empty alleyway, there was a glistening puddle of blood.

"That's... blood, right?" Sissel asked, though he already knew the answer.

"Y-yeah," Yomiel said faintly. "It sure looks like it. It looks like it was made recently too."

"Then where's the body?" Sissel scanned the area frantically, even jumping into the Ghost World in case it was hidden beneath the trash lying around. He still found nothing. "Where is she? I can't see her anywhere!"

"She's not here."

"But that must be her blood, right? Bodies don't vanish into thin air!"

"Somebody moved her, Sissel. I think she was murdered."

"No..." Sissel's head was spinning. How could a simple trip to the store have suddenly ended in murder? And now the body was gone. This situation was rapidly spiralling out of control and he suddenly felt so helpless. "But... wouldn't someone have seen them moving her?"

"They could have put her in a bag. I think the only option now is to contact the police. It would be quicker than looking for her yourself."

"So, you'll go and tell the police?"

Yomiel looked uncomfortable at the thought. "So, an ex-convict is supposed to turn up at the police station saying he found a puddle of blood down an alleyway that might be from the girl he took hostage ten years ago?"

"Oh. Yeah, I can see why that might be a problem. In that case, we'll have to go to Detective Jowd directly. I just hope she isn't found too late."

"Too late?"

"I can only replay the deaths of corpses that are under one day old. I even checked myself at the morgue just to make absolutely sure. You might want to tell Detective Jowd that too."

x-o-x-o-x

"So, we have a time limit?" Detective Jowd said. He and Yomiel were standing near the alleyway while police inspectors examined the scene for clues. "Well, that's certainly worrisome. Some killers don't want the bodies to be found."

"Lynne seems to have some very bad luck," Yomiel commented. "Running into a killer when going out to buy milk? Seriously?"

"Yeah, that's true." Jowd sighed. "And on top of that, her body went missing. This is a very complicated situation but the police will do their best to find her as soon as they possibly can. I've told them it's urgent and luckily they aren't asking too many questions yet."

"I want to go and look for her too," Sissel said. "I'll just get my body and see if I can find her."

"Really?" Jowd said when Yomiel repeated the cat's request. "Well, alright, Sissel, but you'll have to come back home eventually so I can contact you. Let's say evening? I'm sure Kamila would worry if you were gone too long."

"Even the cat has a curfew?" Yomiel couldn't help smiling at the thought.

"Well, he's no ordinary cat after all." Jowd shrugged.

"Can we drop by Lynne's apartment? I want to talk to Missile and then I'll go home through Lynne's phone."

Yomiel excused himself and headed over to the apartment block. As they approached the door to Lynne's apartment, there was a loud thud and the door shuddered. "What was that?" He tried the door but found it locked. "Is someone in there?"

"It's Missile." Sissel sighed in exasperation. "Well, thanks for your help today, Yomiel."

"You're welcome. Sorry about not believing you in the first place. You were right after all."

"No, it's fine. Even I thought I might be worrying a bit too much at one point. Anyway, I'd better get in there before Missile injures himself."

"Right. Good luck with the search. I hope Lynne is found in time."

Sissel passed through the door into the apartment. He caught Missile in the act of preparing to leap at the door again. "Missile, what do you think you are doing?"

"I'm trying to make a path for myself, of course!" Missile replied. "Miss Lynne still isn't back and I'm so worried about her. I want to go and look for her. I just can't seem to get this dratted door to open!"

"Yeah, that's because it's locked. Only way you could get out is if you broke the door down and you're not big or heavy enough for that."

"Huh, it's locked? Miss Kamila didn't even bother locking it on that night. I was hoping Miss Lynne had done the same."

"Well, Lynne probably doesn't want the place to get robbed, that's why. You'd probably greet any thieves with a happy little 'Welcome!' and let them help themselves to her things," Sissel pointed out.

"Hmm, the 'Welcome!' thing is true, I suppose," Missile admitted somewhat shamefully. "It's just in my nature. So, are you saying Miss Kamila wanted the place to be robbed?"

"No. She just tends to be a bit forgetful about such things. Her mother's even told her off a few times for forgetting to lock the door. Luckily, we haven't been robbed yet. So, aren't you going to ask me how it went?"

"Oh right! So how did it go? Did you find her?"

"Unfortunately not. I didn't even find her body. The police are searching for her but I'm going to help out too. If she isn't found by tomorrow morning, it will be too late."

"Too late?!" Missile exclaimed. "You're saying that if she isn't found in time, you won't be able to do anything? Poor Miss Lynne! She only wanted to be able to drink some coffee. What happened to her?"

"Someone probably killed her and moved her, making my job much more difficult in the process. I have to get home so I can start looking for her. Don't worry, Missile, I'm going to find her. That's a promise."

"I know you can do it! I'll be waiting here for Miss Lynne to come back!"

Sissel returned home and possessed his body. He left through the cat flap and headed out to begin his search. (Okay... now where do I start? If I was hiding something like a body, I suppose I'd put it in an deserted area. Better check the places where nobody ever goes.)

One of the first places he tried was Temsik Park. It was just as desolate and empty as it was on that night, littered with trash. There didn't seem to be anyone around, not even the reckless youth.

Sissel approached the fountain and stopped briefly to look at it. The sight brought so many memories back to him. Even after all these years, nobody had ever bothered to replace the bent lamppost that couldn't take Mino's weight. Mino itself of course was long gone. Nobody in their right mind would think to put that thing back up after it had almost killed a little girl.

"Good riddance to that horrible Mino. I sure don't miss it." Sissel continued walking past the fountain. Now was not the time to be reminiscing after all. Even after jumping into the Ghost World a few times, he still hadn't seen a single corpse, let alone Lynne's. He caught sight of a man standing before the crater, staring at the plaque in front of it. There was nothing particularly interesting about him and Sissel moved on.

The little kitten searched long and far with no results. There was a moment when he thought he had found Lynne, looking around an empty alley in the Ghost World, but the shape of the corpse and the lack of a core told him that it wasn't who he was looking for. Sissel curiously pulled off the blankets covering it to find an old man lying there, clutching a bottle in one hand.

"The poor man. He died out here all alone and nobody found him." Sissel thought of Lynne. She too was lying dead somewhere and most likely alone, but at least she had people looking for her. Was anyone wondering where this old man was right now? (Maybe now that I removed the blankets, someone will find him. Rest in peace, old man.)

When Sissel noticed the sun dropping toward the horizon, his spirits sank. It was about time to be getting back home now and he still hadn't found anything. As much as he wanted to keep looking, he had to do what Detective Jowd said and leave the rest to the police. He slunk back home with his ears low and tail drooping, wallowing in disappointment.

Sissel returned home and was surprised to be greeted by a certain Pomeranian, wagging his tail furiously. "Missile?"

"Sissy, there you are!" Kamila ran over and picked up the kitten, giving him a hug. "Where have you been all day? I was starting to get worried about you." She sniffed at his fur. "You smell a bit dirty. I think you need a bath. You know, I think you're the only kitten in the world who doesn't mind baths."

(Yeah, thanks to not even being able to feel the water. I never really liked it much when I was alive.)

Kamila set Sissel down and he started speaking to Missile. "How come you're here? You didn't actually get out, did you?"

"That inspector in the white coat got me and brought me over here," Missile replied. "I'm glad someone thought about me. I would have been so lonely and hungry by myself. So... you didn't find Miss Lynne?"

"No." Sissel hung his head sadly. "I'm so sorry, Missile. I tried my best and I searched everywhere, I was looking for ages and I still couldn't find her."

"Then we just have to hope the police find her, right? I won't lose hope!" Missile exclaimed. "You shouldn't give up hope either, Sissel. Detective Jowd will find her. I just know it!"

"I wish I could be as optimistic as you. Detective Jowd is our only hope now and I'm sure he's doing his best right now to find her."

Sissel and Missile spent the evening letting Kamila fuss over them. Jowd came home briefly to eat a quick dinner before setting off again. It grew late and Kamila had to go to bed eventually. Alma later went up, turning out all the lights. Sissel and Missile were left alone in the kitchen, curled up in Sissel's basket which was spacious enough for both a kitten and a Pomeranian.

"Sissel? If Miss Lynne isn't found by tomorrow morning... you really can't save her?"

"No, I can't. Her core will be gone."

"Oh. I really wish there was something that could be done. I don't want to lose Miss Lynne, ever! The thought of it is so unbearable."

"I'm so sorry. If only I had been able to find her," Sissel said heavily. "Will you be disappointed in me if the worst happens? I might not even be able to keep that promise after all."

"What? Of course I wouldn't be disappointed in you! It's not your fault that all this happened. Stop blaming yourself!"

"Right. That isn't going to help anyone, is it?" Sissel sighed. "I really don't want to lose her either."

Missile was soon fast asleep. Sissel, who was unable to even do that, just lay there waiting through the night. Just like that fateful night when he had been told he would disappear come morning, this night seemed all too short.

x-o-x-o-x

Dawn was fast approaching and the sky growing brighter in hue. Sissel had been watching it through the window, losing hope with every minute that passed by. It looked like it was all over.

(Lynne, I'm so sorry,) he thought despairingly, burying his head in his paws. (You probably thought I would come to save you, but I didn't. I failed you.) Even if they found her eventually, it would be completely useless. Her core would be gone along with her soul.

It was so unfair that this should have to happen. He had saved her life so many times and foolishly assumed he would be able to keep on doing so. That had been a big mistake. Now Lynne was gone and he was probably never going to be able to see her again.

The shrill ring of the phone jerked Sissel out of his thoughts. Missile awoke, barking loudly, and jumped out of the basket to run over to the phone where he sat, wagging his tail furiously. Sissel ran after him and leaped onto the counter, nudging the receiver off the handset. (Please, please be Detective Jowd!)

"Hello?" The detective's voice crackled over the phone and Sissel felt a huge surge of relief. Had he found her? The kitten loudly mewed in response. "Sissel, I've got her. Hurry over before it's too late."

Sissel jumped into the phone and sped through the line. On the other end, he saw Detective Jowd standing in front of a public phone. Jowd was holding a piece of paper in one hand. "Sissel, possess this. I'll take you to where she is."

Sissel attached himself to the paper and Jowd walked a short distance away, turning and walking into an alleyway. "Wait a minute, this is the same alleyway where we found the puddle of blood, isn't it?" (Her corpse wasn't here so why are we even here?)

Jowd came to a stop and gestured toward the wall. Sissel was startled at the sight of Lynne, slumped against the wall. It wasn't only the sight of her however that had shocked him, it was the condition her corpse was in. If his spirit actually had a stomach, it would be churning pretty violently right about now.

"Lynne!" (How... how could somebody do this to her?) The young detective barely even looked like herself anymore. Some sick maniac had hacked away at her body and disfigured her face. Sissel tore his gaze away, unable to bear looking at the awful sight for long.

"It looks bad, doesn't it?" Jowd was looking away as well. "With those wounds all over her body, it looks like she would have taken more than four minutes to die."

(What? No! That can't be!)

"Don't worry though, the wounds all seem to have been inflicted after death. She definitely wasn't killed where she was found either. Judging by the puddle of blood here, it's likely Lynne was indeed killed in this spot, possibly by that large blow to the back of the head she received. I really hope I'm right." Jowd rubbed his forehead. His face was drawn with fatigue. "You have no idea how much trouble I would be in for moving the body."

"It sounds like Detective Jowd made a pretty big sacrifice. I have to save Lynne, no matter what! I just hope I'm not too late." Sissel entered the Ghost World and saw the glowing core on Lynne's corpse. (Yes! She's still there!) He reached out to it and possessed the corpse.

"Sissel, there you are!" Lynne appeared before him, looking thoroughly unimpressed. "I've been waiting ages for you. What took you so long?"

Sissel could barely even speak as he stared at the red haired detective. After all that worry and suffering, he was so overcome with joy at seeing her. Her soul wasn't gone and he would be able to go back and save her life. "Ly... LYNNE!" he finally burst out. "You're still here. Thank goodness!"

"What?" Lynne's expression changed to surprise. Was it just her imagination or did he actually sound close to tears? "What's the matter?"

"Your body was gone! We couldn't find you, even though I was looking for ages, and I had to leave it to the police. Detective Jowd wasn't able to find you until it was nearly dawn. I was so scared. I thought you were going to disappear and... I would never be able to see you again."

"Disappear? I don't understand. What do you mean, disappear?"

"A corpse's core will only be there for one day. After that, it's gone. If that had happened to your corpse, there would have been nothing I could do. You would no longer be there and I wouldn't even be able to replay your death, let alone save it."

"Oh, I see. Sorry about yelling at you like that. Well, at least you made it in time." Lynne smiled at him. "You were really worried about me, huh?"

"Of course I was. Just what in the world happened anyway? You went out to get milk and then you ended up disappearing. Then I finally see your corpse and it's... no, wait, never mind." (I don't think I should tell her about it. It's too awful.)

"I was murdered, wasn't I? I think I remember going into that alleyway and then something hit my head from behind. I probably died after that. What was that about my corpse?" Lynne frowned. "Did something else happen? You can tell me. I'm a detective after all."

(If it was me, I don't think I would want to know at all.) "I don't really know, but the killer wasn't done after bashing you over the head. It looked like he had cut you."

"So, he slashed my body?" Lynne shuddered. "Ew. I've seen a lot of nasty things in homicide cases and it's really disturbing to think about that kind of thing happening to me. Hmm, this thing about killing the person with one blow then mutilating the body, I think I've read something about that recently."

"Okay, why don't we replay your death now? I just hope what we see isn't going to be too nasty."

"If I was killed immediately by the blow to the back of the head, it shouldn't be. I wouldn't particularly like seeing myself being hacked to ribbons either."

"Can you please stop mentioning that part?" Sissel was still trying to banish the gruesome image of Lynne's corpse from his mind and she wasn't making it any easier. The two of them fell back through time to the morning of the previous day.

Lynne was walking along the street. Nothing out of the ordinary was going on so far and she was able to continue on her way undisturbed until she reached the alleyway. A man was standing there, glancing down the alleyway with a nervous look on his face.

"Hey!" the man suddenly exclaimed, stopping Lynne in her tracks. "You... I know you, you're that lady detective, aren't you?"

"Uh, yes, that's right." Lynne stared at him blankly. "Do I know you?"

"Oh, I live around here and I just know a lot of people in the area. What good timing you have. I was going to call the police, but maybe you could look for me. There's something horrible in there." The man was shaking profusely and his skin was shining with sweat. "I think it might be a body, but I'm too afraid to check."

"A body?" Lynne frowned. "Hmm, I should have brought Sissel with me," she mumbled to herself. "Okay, I'll take a look."

Lynne stepped into the alleyway and walked further along in search for whatever it was that had horrified the man so. Behind her, the man reached out to pick a heavy looking item off the ground and stealthily crept toward her, taking care not to make a sound as he did so.

"So where is it supposed to be anyway?" Lynne started to turn around but it was too late as the object slammed into the back of her head with a loud crack. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped as the shock of the impact registered. There wasn't even enough time for her to think about what was happening as she was dead before even hitting the ground.

"You just walked right into that man's trap, didn't you?" Sissel asked with a hint of exasperation in his voice. At least the man had killed her instantly, something he was greatly relieved to see.

"Well, he did say he thought he had found a dead body and, as a detective, I just can't ignore that kind of thing," Lynne said defensively. "I think I had my gun with me, come to think of it, so I would have been able to defend myself had he just, you know, jumped me. Except he decided to sneak up and bash me in the head instead." She clenched a fist tightly. "I really hate sneaky criminals!"

"That man said he knew you. Isn't that strange?" Sissel wondered. "Or is that some line killers just like to use when they are about to murder people? He knew you were a detective as well but I guess he could have figured that out from the badge."

"Hmm, maybe, but it's possible he was watching me for a while and I had no idea. Killers sometimes pick their victims out before they do them in. Come to think of it, my body was gone, wasn't it? I think I saw a pretty large bag there in that alleyway so he must have been planning this before today. It doesn't look like a random killing. Maybe the man is a serial killer."

"Serial killer? I've heard that term before but I'm not exactly sure what it is. It kind of sounds similar to what everyone eats at breakfast, though."

"I wonder what a cereal killer would be." Lynne rubbed her chin thoughtfully. "Maybe it's somebody who kills someone by stuffing so much cereal down them they explode!"

"What?"

"Never mind. I should know better than to tell such jokes to a cat," Lynne said quickly. "Alright, go ahead and save me now."

(I can't understand how she can joke about murder when she's a victim of it herself. Here goes.) Sissel went back to the beginning of the four minutes and waited until Lynne came walking into the alleyway. "The problem here is pretty clear. You didn't realise the man was planning to attack you until it was much too late so I'm going to have to warn you before he has a chance to hit you."

"Then I'll show him what happens to men who try to murder women."

(This man is about to find out what it is like to face Lynne's wrath. I bet she can be fearsome when she's really mad.)

"Darn right I can!"

(Is she supposed to agree with me?)

The man approached Lynne and reached down to pick up the object that would soon bring an abrupt end to the detective's life. Sissel quickly jumped between cores. (There has to be something here that can make noise!) He settled on the lid of a dumpster and examined it. A pile of soda cans and takeaway food containers were preventing the lid from closing properly.

"Look at all those cans," Lynne said. "They would make a lot of noise, I bet."

Sissel quickly lifted up the dumpster lid and slammed it down again. The motion was enough to cause several cans to become dislodged from the pile and fall out, hitting the ground with a loud clatter.

Lynne whirled around as she heard the noise and saw the man raising his weapon high, ready to strike her down. "Hey!"

It was the man's turn to look utterly shocked as he was caught in the act. He dropped the weapon and turned around, breaking into a run.

"Stop or I'll shoot!" Lynne drew her gun as the man raced out of the alleyway. She gave chase, following him down the street. Sissel quickly jumped along the available cores, following her. "I said, stop!" Finally, she raised the gun and fired a warning shot.

The shock of hearing the gunshot caused the man to stumble and almost fall down. The motion slowed him down enough for Lynne to catch up and tackle him to the ground. She pressed the muzzle of the gun into the back of his head, breathing heavily. "You are under arrest for attempted murder. You have the right to remain silent and anything you say may be used against you in court." She took a pair of handcuffs from her coat pocket and fastened his wrists behind his back.

"Bitch!" the man hissed venomously.

Lynne narrowed her eyes and drove the tip of her boot sharply into his groin, provoking a cry of pain. "I would keep your mouth shut if I were you." She looked at a stunned bystander. "Hey, would you please call the police for me? I've got to keep watch over him."

"Huh, so I was right. You can be pretty scary when you're mad."

"Well, the man just tried to kill me. Can you really blame me?"

"No, I guess not. Now you're alive and you've managed to catch a killer on top of that. Not such a bad morning, is it?"

"When we go back to the present, it will be tomorrow, won't it?"

"Yes, but you'll still remember everything that happens after capturing the criminal and I will too. Our past selves will even have the memories of what happened while you were dead the moment we leave."

"Huh. That's all very hard to take in." Lynne looked confused.

"Yeah, it can be rather crazy. Imagine suddenly having ten years' worth of new memories dumped in your head. One day doesn't seem so bad by comparison."

"Ten years?" Lynne frowned. "That's how long it's been since we first met."

"Yeah, that's true," Sissel said. "Well, time to go back so you can reap the rewards of your latest accomplishment."

"You're really helping me out with my job, you know. I appreciate it."

(I wonder what the other people at her work would think if they knew she was being helped out by a ghost.) "Well, goodbye for now. Please try not to die again."

"Okay!" Lynne said cheerfully, a little too cheerfully Sissel thought. He resignedly returned to the new present, hoping she would keep her word at least for a little while. This incident had left him fairly traumatised and he could do without another death for a good long time.

x-o-x-o-x

The criminal had been taken in to the police station and Lynne had gone along to answer some questions. Now she was sitting at her desk, trying to stomach the taste of instant coffee. Lynne grimaced as she swallowed the piping hot liquid then set it down, sighing. She would much rather have been drinking coffee at home but thanks to that incident, she hadn't even had a chance to buy milk.

"Oh yeah." Lynne took a piece of paper from her notepad and scribbled a note reminding herself to get some on the way home when she had finished working. It was already past the time she would have come in for work by now so there was no point in leaving.

"How are you, Lynne?" The voice belonged to a woman detective who sat herself in the chair next to the redhead. Lynne had to think for a moment before she remembered her name was Emi. "I heard that you had a run-in with a killer this morning. That must have been scary. You aren't hurt, are you?"

"I'm fine, really. There's not a scratch on me," Lynne replied. "I was pretty lucky." Lucky that she had a time-travelling ghost cat to help her out.

"You know what I just heard? They did a fingerprint scan on the guy and a match came up on one of the Corpse Slasher cases."

"Corpse Slasher?" Lynne recalled the name vaguely. She must have read about it when looking through case files.

"That's right. You may very well have caught a serial killer. Not bad for a rookie detective."

"Uh, well, you know, I only caught him because he tried to kill me." Lynne smiled in embarrassment. "I've got a long way to go yet," she added, with a laugh.

"Well, if you want to chase down some more serial killers and bring them in, that would be good. The less of them we have to deal with, the better. Well, I'd better go, got other things to do." Emi got up and left, giving her a cheery wave.

"Huh." Lynne swivelled her chair around to face her desk. She brought up the Corpse Slasher file on her computer and briefly looked over it, wincing at the photos even though she had seen them before. Knowing that she had suffered the same fate as the people in the pictures just made it harder to look. Despite the brutality of these murders, Lynne was certainly glad she had been a victim of this guy and not the ones who tortured and killed their victims slowly. The detective closed the file and got up from her desk, feeling that it was time to go out and get some fresh air.

Outside the police station, she caught sight of a certain black kitten sitting on the wall. "Sissel, you came to see me?" Lynne sat down next to him and picked him up.

"I'm glad to see you alive again. It was really scary, not knowing where you were while time was running out. I don't want to have to go through that again."

"Poor you." Lynne scratched his head. "I'm sorry you had to go through that experience. Well, at least you came for me in the end so everything turned out okay, didn't it?"

"But aren't you even a bit worried? I mean, I nearly failed you."

"Not really. I know I can count on you. It's not your fault the killer took my body away so don't be so hard on yourself." Lynne held him up to face level. "I'm really glad to have a friend like you, Sissel."

"Good luck... friend!"

"Huh?" Lynne had suddenly remembered saying that but even as she tried to grasp at that distant memory, it sank into the depths of her mind where she couldn't reach. When had she said that and to whom?

"Are you okay?" Sissel asked, noticing the look of confusion on her face.

"Uh, yeah." Lynne figured she would remember at some point. No use in fretting about it. "How would you like to help me solve murders? I bet you would be really useful for it if the victims weren't dead too long."

"What?" Sissel stared at her, trying to figure out if she was being serious or not. "Is using a time travelling ghost really a legitimate way to solve a case?"

"Hmm. I could ask my boss." Lynne looked thoughtful. "With a partner like you, I would be rising through the ranks in no time!"

"Lynne... I'm not your ticket to the top."

Lynne responded with a pealing laugh. "Oh, I was only kidding. Don't be so serious."

Sissel hung his head wearily. (I give up.)

x-o-x-o-x

"This is "One Step Ahead" Tengo reporting in. I'm at the target's house now."

"And? Did you get the information?"

"He left a while ago. I'm waiting for him to come back."

"Why didn't you just do it before he left?"

"Because I like to be one step ahead, that's why."

"Hmph! If being one step ahead means you're going to leave the job until the last minute, then maybe you should think about a new nickname!"

"Duly noted. I'm going to hang up now."


	5. Chapter 5

Lynne woke up with a start, feeling relief when she saw that she was safe and sound in her own bed. She had just experienced a strange and very unsettling dream where she was trapped on a sinking submarine. The details of the dream were hazy and she couldn't remember it too well. The oddest thing about it was that it gave her a sense of deja vu and yet, how could that be? As far as she knew, she had never been in such a situation.

"Huh, what a weird dream." Lynne slipped out of bed and put on her robe and slippers. She left the room and was about to walk to the kitchen only to stop outside the room next to her bedroom. The door was wide open and she could see her cluttered desk where she had spent many evenings looking over files and papers. The rest of the room was just as messy as her desk, filled with boxes and assorted junk she had thrown in there.

As she continued to stare into the room, she was struck with the odd sensation that something was missing. Lynne felt a pang in her chest. Why did looking into this room suddenly make her feel sort of lonely?

A memory came back to her from the day she had brought Missile home. The little puppy had rushed all over the house, darting into rooms and examining every little nook and cranny he could find. The door to this room had been closed at the time and Missile had eventually started pawing at it while whining furiously. Lynne had opened it for him and Missile darted inside. He had stopped still and looked slowly around the room then started walking in circles. All the while, he was making a confused sounding whine.

Had Missile been expecting to find something inside this room?

Lynne recalled something odd Missile had said yesterday morning. How it was a shame that Kamila wasn't living with them anymore. She had forgotten about it rather quickly. Now that she thought about it, it was a very odd thing for him to say.

"No way." Lynne put her hands over her mouth and her eyes widened. "Kamila didn't really live with us, did she?" Surely that couldn't be. She had only met the girl a short time ago and Kamila was living with her parents. The perturbed detective closed the door and made her way to the kitchen.

Missile leaped out of his basket and came running to greet her when she came in. Lynne knelt down and stroked him.

"Missile, what secrets are you hiding from me?" Lynne muttered. It seemed she wasn't able to talk with him in the Ghost World unless Sissel was around so her question went unanswered. "Come to think of it, I bet Sissel knows something. Okay, Missile, we'll go over to Detective Jowd's later and I'm going to talk to that cat."

x-o-x-o-x

Kamila greeted Lynne at the door when she came over. "Hi, Lynne! My dad's already gone out to work."

"Oh, has he? That's okay, I didn't come to see him." Lynne looked down at Missile, who was now pulling furiously at his leash and trying to get to Kamila. "Calm down, Missile. I'll let you off, just hold on." She reached down and undid it. Missile threw himself at Kamila, wagging his tail.

"Aww, Missile, you're so adorable." Kamila knelt down and hugged him.

Sissel jumped down from his resting spot by the window and walked over to the girls, meowing.

"You're not feeling left out, are you, Sissel?" Kamila giggled, petting the kitten. "It's okay. I think you're adorable as well."

"Is your mom home?" Lynne asked.

"Yeah, she's just cleaning up somewhere. Why?"

"Why don't we go out together and take Missile for a walk? Sissel can come along too," Lynne said. "If that's okay with your mom of course."

"Alright, I'll just go and ask her." Kamila got up and hurried out of the kitchen, calling for her mother.

"You're not busy today then?" Sissel asked.

"Not unless it turns out someone was brutally murdered and they need a detective over there to investigate," Lynne responded. "Let's hope that doesn't happen."

Sissel's ears flattened. "Don't jinx it."

"Wow, it's been so long since I last went on a walk with Miss Lynne and Miss Kamila!" Missile exclaimed. "This is going to be so much fun!"

"But you've never been on a walk with..." Lynne stopped and shook her head. "Never mind. By the way, Sissel, I've got some questions for you but those can wait."

(That sounds kind of ominous.)

"Yeah, that's what everybody thinks when a detective wants to ask them some questions. Don't worry, it's not like you're a murder suspect or something."

"Believe me, that's one of the last things I was worried about."

Kamila came back into the kitchen. "Mom says that I can go. So where are we going to go?"

"Hmm, there are some woods near here, aren't there? We could take Missile there and throw sticks for him. He likes to chase things." Lynne put the leash back on Missile's collar and held it out to her. "Here, you take him."

They left the house and headed off toward the woods. Sissel gazed up at the clear sky. There was barely a cloud to be seen up there and the pale winter sun was able to cast its light without trouble. "It's not such a bad day for a walk." He glanced at Lynne and Kamila, walking side by side with Missile tearing ahead on the leash that Kamila held tightly on to. (Missile must be happy to be able to spend time with the two like this again. I bet it was a shock when he returned to the present and found Kamila didn't live with him anymore. Anyway, I wonder what Lynne wants to talk about? Maybe she's remembered something.)

"So you got some time off from work to go out for a walk? That must be lucky for you," Kamila said. "My dad's a detective too after all and he's always out working so I don't really get to see a lot of him."

"Yeah, being a detective takes up a lot of free time. It would be nice if people just stopped committing crimes but I don't see that happening anytime soon sadly," Lynne said. "So your mom has to take care of you while your dad is out?"

"Mom has a job too actually but she doesn't have to work as often as my dad does."

"Oh, so does that mean you're at home by yourself often?" Lynne regarded her with surprise.

"Yeah, they have been leaving me at home since I was quite young but it's okay. I've always been good at taking care of myself and I know how to cook a few things."

"I see. Still, doesn't it kind of get lonely?"

"Not really, I've got Sissel to keep me company."

(The little lady must have been lonely in the other timeline,) Sissel thought. (She probably didn't even have a pet then. Why did they leave her alone when she was so young anyway? Sure, she could take care of herself, but their parenting is really questionable.)

"And now I'm the one who has to be lonely." Missile had entered the Ghost World to respond to his thoughts. "It's disappointing, but it's better than the alternative. I'm glad Miss Kamila has you to keep her company now."

"Sissel, you're a cat." Lynne had now joined them. "I really don't think you're in a position to be judging people."

"Just because I'm a cat doesn't mean I can't have opinions on how people act," Sissel protested. "And why are you two listening to my thoughts? This whole no secrets in the Ghost World thing can be troublesome."

"It's not really all that easy to avoid hearing your thoughts, you know," said Lynne. "Well, I'll let you get back to your inner monologuing."

Sissel exited the Ghost World and continued listening to the conversation that was going on between the two ladies.

"Well, that's nice but you must wish you had a sibling at least, surely?" Lynne asked. "I'm an only child myself and it could be rather lonely."

"I suppose but it doesn't really bother me too much. Did your parents have to go out to work a lot as well?"

"Uh, well." Lynne hesitated, her eyes shining with a sudden sadness. "My dad died when I was quite young and my mom had to work a lot after that. I was always going out to the park until that incident. After that, I just stayed at home most of the time."

"Oh. Sorry to hear that." Kamila bit her lower lip.

It suddenly occurred to Sissel that it was strange Lynne hadn't picked up on his mention of the other timeline. How could she possibly have missed hearing that? If she really did remember something, he wished she would say so already.

"Oh, here it is." Lynne had come to a sudden stop before a path leading into a thick cluster of trees. "Ready to chase down some sticks, Missile?"

Missile responded with a joyful bark. Kamila released him from the leash and he raced off along the path. They followed him into the woods. The trees were so thick that only little slivers of daylight could penetrate the treetops. Clumps of snow were still sticking to their branches, threatening to fall and hit anyone careless enough to walk below.

"Hey, Missile!" Kamila reached down to pick up a stick and waved it over her head. "Catch!" She threw the stick through the air and Missile tore off after it. A moment later, he returned to her with the stick in his mouth and dropped it at her feet. Kamila praised him and threw the stick again.

"It looks like they are having fun." Lynne sat down upon a fallen tree trunk. "Sissel, I need to talk to you."

"So it's time for the questions?" Sissel jumped up on the tree trunk and sat down next to her. "Fire away."

"I know that you and Missile are hiding something from me, although it's not like Missile is trying very hard."

"Huh? No, you've got it wrong," Sissel said quickly. "It wasn't that we were trying to keep secrets from you. It's just that I wanted to see if you could remember by yourself. Have you remembered something?"

"I don't know but this morning while I was still at home, I experienced such a strange feeling. It felt like something or someone was missing. Then I thought about things Missile said or did. Kamila and I... did we really live together at one point?"

"Yes, you did." Sissel felt a surge of hope. It seemed like Lynne really was getting closer to remembering everything after all. Just a little more time and hopefully she would have the memories back.

"I see. It must have been in that other timeline you mentioned." Lynne suddenly looked sad. "But what in the world could have led to something like that happening? Something really bad must have happened to lead to those circumstances."

Sissel lowered his head, staring at his paws. "A lot of bad things happened in that timeline. I don't really want to go into all the details but I'm sure you'll remember sooner or later."

"Okay. Actually, I had a rather frightening dream last night and it felt so familiar like it had happened before. I was trapped on a sinking submarine." Lynne shivered as she thought about it. She didn't remember the details exactly but she still recalled the feeling of utter despair as she was drifting down in the bottomless sea. "Did that really happen to me?"

"It wasn't just you. All four of us here right now were there."

"Huh?" Lynne's mouth dropped open in shock and she looked at Missile and Kamila. "Even Kamila was there? The poor little girl. Just what went on in that other time? It doesn't sound like any of it was good."

"It was a really bad night." Sissel stood up and walked along the tree branch. "A lot of things happened. It would take too long to explain everything and besides hearing it all from me wouldn't be the same as remembering."

Lynne put her head in her hands. "This is all so much to take in already. I wish I could just remember right now." She suddenly jumped, looking startled. "Huh?"

"What? Did you remember something else?"

"No, my pager just went off." Lynne reached into her pocket and pulled out a pager. It was vibrating furiously in her hand.

"Pager?" Sissel stared at it in confusion.

"It's just a way to contact someone when they don't have access to the phone. I guess it's work calling for me." Lynne studied the screen. "Looks like it's from Detective Jowd."

"You really jinxed it, didn't you?" Sissel asked exasperatedly. "I guess someone's been brutally murdered and now you have to go and investigate."

Lynne silently read the message then put it away. "Well, it seems that you have a job to do, Sissel."

"What? Me?" Sissel was stunned. "Are you saying that someone we know is dead? Who could it be?"

"I didn't recognise the address Detective Jowd gave me so I don't really know. He just said to bring you."

"I have a very bad feeling about this." (Detective Jowd wouldn't just have me brought over for some random murder. Is it somebody we both know?)

"Kamila!" Lynne called out to her as she stood up. Kamila came over with Missile. "I've got to do some work related things. Could you please take Missile back to your house? I'll come by and pick him up later."

"Alright, I'll take good care of him." Kamila clipped the leash onto his collar. "Let's go, Missile." She raced off back along the path with him.

Lynne picked Sissel up. "It's hard work, isn't it? Having to save lives all the time. You're awfully busy for a cat."

"No thanks to you."

"Hey, it's not like I'm dying on purpose!" Lynne exclaimed indignantly. "Well, let's hurry over there and see who it is Detective Jowd wants us to save."

Lynne reached her destination twenty minutes later. The door to the house was open and police cars were parked outside. As she walked through the front door, Sissel was struck with horrified realisation.

"This is Yomiel's house!" Sissel exclaimed, leaping from Lynne's arms. He ran toward the sound of voices coming from the next room and saw the gruesome scene that awaited him inside.

Yomiel was slumped on the floor with the upper part of his body resting against the couch. His face was frozen forever in a grimace of pain, the way it had looked at the moment of death. The shirt he wore had become a deep crimson and the fabric was torn in several places, presumably by the bullets that had stolen away his life.

He was not the only casualty of this awful tragedy. The other Sissel was sitting up on the sofa, staring ahead blankly with a stunned expression. A thin trail of blood trickled down her tear-streaked face, running from the small hole on her forehead.

"Yomiel..." Sissel was dismayed at the sight. After all those years Yomiel had spent trapped in that awful limbo, missing his deceased fiancée, shouldn't he have been allowed to live out his new life with her in peace, free of trouble? (I don't believe this. He's been through enough already. Who would have wanted to murder them like this in their own home?)

"Hey, what's that cat doing in here?" a police officer asked, having spotted the kitten. "Does it belong to this couple? We can't have it messing up the crime scene."

"Oh, don't worry," said Detective Jowd. Sissel hadn't noticed him with his attention fully focused on the two corpses. "He won't be any trouble."

Lynne had come into the room by now. She looked around the room and her gaze fell upon the blond man. Her hands flew to her mouth and she gasped, taking a step back. "That man... I've seen him before!"

"You remember him?" Jowd asked. "That's the man from the park who took you hostage ten years old."

"No... that's not it." Lynne wasn't thinking of the incident in the park, but of a time when she had already become detective. She vaguely remembered meeting him one night. As she struggled to recall it, the details started to come back to her. The place was a lonely junkyard on the edge of town. The man had appeared to fall down dead right in front of her.

Even though he had supposedly died, the man had shown up before her as a ghost and called himself Sissel. Though, in the end, it had turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, hadn't it? Sissel never was the man in red after all. Of course not, because he was the cat standing right there.

"Sissel..." Lynne said shakily. "Didn't you wear this man's face once?"

Sissel looked up at her. "Can we talk about this later? I've got to save their lives now."

"Yeah, of course." Lynne's mind was becoming flooded with so many memories. that she could barely make sense of them. It was a jumble and she was struggling to try and put the pieces together.

(Lynne looks so confused. Seeing Yomiel must have triggered a rush of memories. This is no time to be celebrating though, I've got two lives to save.) Sissel reached out to Yomiel's core and possessed his corpse.

Yomiel's spirit appeared before him in the Ghost World. His shoulders were slumped and he had a sad expression on his face. "Sissel... I knew you would come."

"What's going on here?" Sissel asked. "How come you're both dead?"

"He killed her. The bastard," Yomiel muttered fiercely. "He just came into our house and... he shot her... Sissel..."

"And then he shot you as well, I suppose," said Sissel. "But why would someone want to do that? Who was it who shot you, Yomiel?"

"Actually I don't remember that part too well. I had just returned home with Sissel. We had been out for lunch and I think a man was in our house. Maybe he followed us in or something. I just remember her being shot and then... well, I died, didn't I?" Yomiel sighed and slowly shook his head. "I had to see her dead body again. It was awful."

"But things are different this time around. I'm going to save you both," Sissel assured him. "Now we're going to go back to four minutes before your death and I'm going to stop that killer." He turned back the clock, taking them to the past.

The room where Yomiel and his fiancée had met their deaths was pitch black. Even the windows had been covered up, plunging the room into darkness. The silence that hung over the room was soon broken by a door opening and the sound of voices. The door into the living room opened and Yomiel's fiancée stepped into the room.

"Huh? Why is it so dark in here?" Sissel was about to reach for the light switch but then a lamp flickered on in the corner of the room, illuminating the form of a man. She let out a terrified shriek, bringing Yomiel into the room.

At that point, the ghost Sissel brought time to a halt and stared in shock. (No! It can't be... that man is...) He turned to Yomiel, who looked just as shocked as he was feeling at that moment. "Yomiel, what is one of Commander Sith's hitmen doing here?" he practically yelled.

"What are you asking me that for? I don't know why!" Yomiel gritted his teeth. "I don't understand this any more than you do. This can't be happening. It has to be some kind of a bad dream."

"I wish it was just a bad dream. Let's see the rest of it." Sissel unfroze time and the events continued to unfold.

"You...!" the past Yomiel exclaimed. His face drained of all colour as he saw the blue hitman sitting casually upon a chair. "What are you doing here? Did Commander Sith send you?"

"How do you know that name?" Tengo had visibly flinched when he mentioned the Commander's name. "Well, it doesn't matter right now. I came here to get some answers." He stood up and lifted up his rifle, aiming it squarely at them. "Sit yourselves down upon that couch there before I fill you both with holes."

Sissel was whimpering in shock, tears welling up in her eyes. She edged toward the sofa and sat down. "What do you want from us? Yomiel, what's going on? Who is this Commander Sith?"

Yomiel sat down next to her. His body was shaking and beads of sweat had formed on his brow. "Please, just let her go. If you want to get answers, you can just ask me. Whatever it is, I'm sure she has nothing to do with it."

"Sorry, I can't do that. She's a witness to this crime and she knows the Commander's name now. I can't very well let her go in that situation."

"So what do you want to know?" Yomiel clenched his fists. "You're just going to kill us after this, aren't you? Why should I bother telling you?"

"Maybe if you tell me what I want to know, I'll be nice enough to let you die quickly. Imagine how long it takes to die from being shot in the kneecaps. You don't know, do you?" Tengo's mouth curved in the briefest hint of a smile. "My boss is very curious about the secrets behind what happened that day in Temsik Park."

"Temsik Park?"

"Don't act like a fool. The day you took a little girl hostage then risked your life to save her and ended up crushed under a giant rock in that very park. Something strange happened then and my boss wants to know why."

Yomiel's mouth was hanging open and he appeared to have been struck speechless. "How does he know?"

"Like I'm going to tell you that. Actually, I don't know my boss's sources, I just do what I'm paid to do. Now, do you have the answers that my boss wants or not? Make it quick."

Yomiel clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "I don't know anything! Why would I? I was just someone who happened to be there in the park, that's all!"

"Please, you've got the wrong people. We don't have these answers that you're looking for," Sissel said, her voice quivering. "Look, we won't tell anyone about you or mention this commander's name. Just leave us."

"Hmph, you're far too noisy." Tengo raised the gun and squeezed the trigger. There was a flash of white, accompanied by a loud bang, and Sissel jerked back against the sofa cushions. A spray of blood flew over the wall, painting it a garish shade of red.

Yomiel turned around sharply, taking in the sight of his dead fiancée. "Sissel!"

"This has been a complete waste of time and bullets," Tengo said disdainfully. "Had I known you didn't have the information my boss was looking for, I would never have bothered coming over here."

"You... shot her..." Yomiel looked toward the hitman. Veins were bulging on his forehead and his teeth were clenched in fury. "Damn you!" He leaped off the sofa and cocked a fist, preparing to strike down the hitman. However, Tengo was faster and he rapidly fired the gun, releasing a hail of bullets that struck Yomiel in the chest. The blond man went flying back and hit the floor, his body collapsing against the sofa where he died.

"So that's what happened," Sissel said. What he had seen in those four minutes had left him deeply worried. "Why in the world was he asking about Temsik Park? In this time, he shouldn't even know anything about the meteorite or powers of the dead. Anyway, it was good of you not to give the hitman the information he wanted."

"There's no way I'm letting that backstabbing commander get what he wants," Yomiel said vehemently. "It would be too dangerous to let him get his hands on the meteorite. They will use it for evil. That time, when I was dead, I didn't even care about that. Of course, things are different now."

"I just don't understand though. How could Commander Sith possibly have heard anything about Temsik?"

"The hitman never mentioned Temsik," Yomiel pointed out. "If Commander Sith knew about Temsik, he wouldn't have to send people over to ask questions. I don't think we have to be worried about that. The hitman only talked about something strange happening in the park."

"The powers of the dead?" (Come to think of it, Mino suddenly shifting onto a lamp post would have been rather obvious.)

"I know you're troubled about this but shouldn't we talk about it later?" Yomiel asked with a hint of impatience in his voice.

"Right, of course." Sissel was just going to have to continue worrying over this afterwards. There were more important things he had to do right now. "Why is it always murder these days anyway? Can't I deal with a simple little accident for once?"

"Maybe if you ask Lynne nicely, she will grant your wish. The girl can't seem to get enough of dying after all."

Sissel decided to ignore him and rewound the four minutes back to the beginning. "How am I going to deal with him? I sure wish I had something heavy to drop on his head again."

"I'm sure you'll figure something out. Just try not to make too much of a mess, will you?"

"Sorry, I can't promise that." (I need an idea and fast. Maybe I'll make a distraction. That usually seems to work pretty well.)

Sissel jumped from core to core across the room. He attached himself to the door leading to the kitchen just as the other door opened and Yomiel's fiancée walked in. Tengo turned on the light and then Yomiel entered the room. The hitman didn't hear the sound of Sissel quietly opening the door to the kitchen.

"There are a lot of things in kitchens that can make noise," Sissel said. "It's actually kind of exciting."

"Why am I not surprised?" Yomiel muttered. "Well, if strange things ever start happening in the kitchen, I'll know who to blame."

"You really think I would do that? I can't believe you!" Sissel tried to sound as indignant as he possibly could.

"You're not fooling me." Yomiel smiled wryly.

(Darn. He knows me too well.) Sissel jumped across the kitchen to a set of drawers.

"Hey, Sissel, try opening the top drawer," Yomiel suggested. "That's where we keep the cutlery. It should make a bit of noise."

"Oh yeah. If I rattle it about, that's bound to catch his attention." Sissel yanked on the drawer and shook it about as hard as he could, causing the cutlery inside to jump around. The motion was strong enough to pull the entire drawer out so that it fell to the floor with a loud thud. The contents spilled out onto the floor, clattering noisily. (Oops!)

Yomiel's shoulders slumped and he sighed. "Well, so much for not making a mess."

"Sorry, I guess I used a bit too much strength there."

"What was that noise?" Tengo shouted, running into the kitchen and aiming his gun. He looked down at the fallen drawer then scanned the room, looking confused. "Huh, that's strange. Damn, I turned my back on them!" He turned round and dashed back into the living room. Sissel had left the room but Yomiel was still in the doorway. "Hold it!" The hitman let off a shot, stopping him in his tracks.

Yomiel turned around. Tengo lowered the gun, resting it against his hips.

"So she escaped? Well, it doesn't matter, you're the one I have to talk to. Now then..."

(Yomiel's fiancée is safe now, but he isn't yet. Hmm, the position of the gun... I have an idea!) Sissel quickly attached himself to the gun and fired it. A bullet shot out of the rifle, penetrating Tengo's foot.

Tengo collapsed against the wall, howling in pain. "My foot!" he screamed. "The gun... you... you did this, didn't you?" He raised the gun and aimed it toward Yomiel, gritting his teeth against the pain. "It's true about those strange powers, isn't it?"

"You'd better do something before he fires that gun. He looks pretty mad."

"I think I'd be pretty mad with a bullet in my foot too. Now what?" Sissel looked at the cupboard next to Tengo, then at the objects on top. There was a vase near the edge of the cupboard and close to it, a snow globe resting on a stand. "How heavy is that snow globe?"

"Wait, what are you thinking about?" Yomiel yelled.

"Saving your life of course! How heavy?"

Yomiel sighed and rested his forehead in one hand. "Well, if it's to save my life, I guess there isn't any choice. It's heavy enough that I wouldn't want it landing on my head."

"It would probably just bounce off your hair. Oh, and I apologise in advance for the vase."

"You're enjoying this, aren't you? Well, at least the vase is cheap. Wait, what do you mean it would just bounce off my hair?"

Sissel attached himself to the snow globe and used all his strength to rock it back and forth. It tipped out of the stand and he rolled it at top speed toward the vase. The vase went sailing over the edge and turned over, falling squarely on Tengo's head. It broke apart, leaving the hitman covered in water and flowers. He spluttered and shook his head. A second later, the snow globe struck his head. Tengo groaned and went limp, his head hitting the floor.

"That went well," Sissel said in satisfaction. "You'll just tie him up and call the police, right?"

"I suppose so. Looks like you've saved my life yet again." Yomiel smiled. Just as quickly as it came, his smile disappeared. "However, it doesn't look like we're going to be able to relax."

"Right. Not if Commander Sith is searching for the truth behind the events that took place that day in the park. If he finds out about the powers of the dead and Temsik again, it could be a disaster."

"I just wonder how he managed to find out about it in the first place."

"Who knows? Well, time to go back. I'll see you in the new present."

Sissel returned to the present where he saw Yomiel and his fiancée talking to a couple of policemen. Tengo was still there as well, securely tied up in a corner of the room. He spotted Lynne standing in the doorway, clutching onto his limp body and fidgeting awkwardly. It seemed she was rather uncomfortable about being there.

(Now that a murder didn't take place, I guess she must have come over here to bring my body to me. That sure was considerate of her.) Sissel jumped back into his body.

"Huh?" Lynne was startled by the sudden movement of the furry bundle in her arms. "Oh, Sissel. You're back."

"Thanks for coming. You saved me the trouble of having to look for my body."

"Sissel..." Lynne hugged him tightly, burying her face in his soft black fur. "I remember everything. Why Kamila was living with me and what happened on that night. It all came back to me. You and Missile did it, didn't you? I don't know how you did it but thank you so much!"

"It looks like we'll have quite a bit to talk about but that's going to have to wait. You recognize that blue man sitting in the corner of the room, don't you?"

Lynne looked up, her gaze trailing over to Tengo, and she gasped. "He's one of those hitmen who tried to kill me on that night. Don't tell me that organization is behind this?"

"Unfortunately, it does. Can you call Inspector Cabanela and Detective Jowd? Things are starting to look really bad right now."

"Got it." Lynne approached the group of people standing in the centre of the room. "Um, excuse me."

"Who are you?" Yomiel's fiancée regarded her with a surprised expression.

"Oh, I'm Lynne from the detective division. That man who came into your house may be working with a dangerous organization and I have to call my co-workers. May I please use your phone?"

"Sure, go right ahead."

"Thanks." Lynne set the kitten down and went to the phone.

"Hm?" Sissel glanced down at the cat, raising an eyebrow. "Is this the same kitten that other detective brought over before?"

"What can I say? He's really popular with detectives." Yomiel bent down and picked Sissel up. "I'm afraid she's going to start smelling a rat sooner or later," he spoke to him in the Ghost World.

"Honestly, I'm surprised she brought your excuse about us having the same name in the first place. Does she really believe you named some random kitten you met after her?"

"If she doubts it, she hasn't said anything yet. I overheard your conversation with Lynne just now. It seems she somehow managed to remember everything from that other timeline. That's quite a surprise."

"Maybe everyone has memories of it deep down. That, or Lynne just really wanted to remember me and somehow she did." A troubling thought occurred to Sissel. "What if that commander ends up remembering it too?"

"Clearly, he hasn't yet otherwise he would have gone and dug up that meteorite by now. There was never a manipulator case and because of that, it's no longer guarded by agents. It would be no trouble at all for someone to steal it."

"Thankfully, the arrival of that hitman has alerted us to the danger. We just have to figure out what is going on here."

Lynne put the phone down. "I called them. They are on their way over now." She looked from Yomiel to his fiancée. "Are you his wife?"

"Not yet, but I hope to be soon. I've been waiting ten years after all," Sissel replied, smiling. "Do you know him?"

"Uh..." Lynne faltered. She didn't think it was a good idea to say outright she was the girl he had taken hostage. "Sort of."

"It's complicated," Yomiel said quickly. "Lynne, this is my fiancée... Sissel."

"Sissel?" Lynne's jaw dropped and she looked at the kitten, her eyes growing wide. She spoke to him through the Ghost World. "You have the same name as that man's fiancée? Does that mean you were his cat all along?"

"Yeah. Yomiel was the one who adopted me originally."

"Wow. I never would have guessed. So, you must have been with him at the junkyard that night." Lynne frowned thoughtfully. "Were you shot when he was manipulating me?"

"It was one of the biggest mistakes I made that night," Yomiel cut in, looking sad. "In my quest for revenge, I ended up taking the life of the only friend I had during those ten years."

"Oh..." Lynne fell silent, not knowing what to say.

"I haven't had a chance to say this yet. I really am sorry for what I did that day in the park. You didn't deserve to go through such a terrible experience."

"Um, well... thanks for the apology. So you're alive in this time. That must be thanks to Sissel and Missile. How did they do that?"

"Mino can be quite useful when it's not busy crushing people to death," Sissel said. "We used it to change the course of the Temsik fragment. Unfortunately, we ended up putting your own life in danger."

"Huh? Come to think of it, I do remember Mino falling down on him." Lynne looked at Yomiel. "You must have thrown me aside when you realised it was about to land on you, right?"

"It didn't exactly happen like that. My past self was knocked unconscious and you were lying right into Mino's path. The three of us combined our powers and I manipulated myself into throwing you out of the way. That's all."

"You risked your life to save me?" Lynne clapped her hands to her mouth. "Wow, I really had no idea that happened. Detective Jowd didn't say anything about it."

"Eh, it was nothing really," Yomiel murmured.

"Right, are we done with our chitchat yet?" Sissel asked impatiently. "Time stands still in the Ghost World and I would like to see Detective Jowd and Inspector Cabanela get here soon."

"Oh, we did get a bit sidetracked, didn't we?" Lynne smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

The conversation came to an end and time resumed its flow. Lynne turned her attention to the two police officers and began talking to them about the situation.

"Yomiel, what is going on?" his fiancee asked, seeming concerned. "What is this organization supposed to be and just what do they want with us? I was so sure that man was going to kill us."

"I'm sorry you had to get caught in this." Yomiel put an arm around her, kissing the top of her head. "I really am."

Sissel slipped out of his grip and walked over to the sofa where he jumped up and curled his body into a ball. There he waited, watching the hitman all the while. Tengo was awake but he had not said a single word; he just sat there staring at the wall in front of him.

(That Commander Sith... how in the world did he hear about the powers of the dead? He was able to figure out the source of Yomiel's powers without Yomiel knowing about it and he'll surely find out this time as well. We're not going to let him get his hands on Temsik again. I'll do whatever I have to to stop him!)

x-o-x-o-x

It was nearly half an hour later when Jowd and Cabanela arrived. The Inspector danced into the room ahead of his friend and stopped. "Your white-coated knight is here, Lynne. What can I do for yoooou?"

"Inspector Cabanela, Detective Jowd. Thanks for coming," said Lynne.

"Why this man's house of all places?" Jowd muttered, looking around the room. His gaze fell upon Tengo and his face paled. "It can't be... is that man working for him?"

"Sissel." Yomiel was speaking to his fiancée. "I hate to ask you to do this, but could you please leave us? I would rather you didn't know anything about what's going on. It's just too dangerous."

"Yomiel..." For a moment, it looked like she wanted to protest but then she nodded her head. "Alright." She left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Hmm." Cabanela gazed at Yomiel thoughtfully, rubbing his chin. "You look aaawfully familiar. Have we met before?"

"It's been a long time, Inspector. Ten years ago, you were interrogating me after I was accused of being a spy and then you made that mistake. Does that ring a bell?"

"Hold on. You're the one who took Lynne hostage?" Cabanela recoiled in shock. "This caaan't be a coincidence. What is going on?"

"And is that man working for Commander Sith?" Jowd clenched a fist. Just thinking about that man who had caused so much trouble for many and even left his own daughter on a sinking submarine made his blood boil.

"Commander Sith? I'm completely out of the loooop here!" Cabanela complained.

"Commander Sith is part of an organization. Maybe he's the head of it. I don't know the details exactly," Lynne said. "I'm not sure you could understand what's going on until we explained everything to you."

"The man over there came into my house and murdered me and my fiancée. It seems his boss, Commander Sith, has learned about strange things happening in Temsik Park that day. He wanted to see if I had the answers to what happened, not that I told him. I wouldn't do that."

"The strange things?" Jowd repeated. "You mean the powers of the dead?" Yomiel nodded in response. "But how did he know?"

"Did you say... murdered?" Cabanela frowned. "Don't you mean triiied to?"

"A very special creature brought them back to life." Lynne picked Sissel up. "He's no ordinary cat."

"I'll explain everything to you at a later date. I know this must all sound crazy to you," Jowd said. "At the moment, all you need to know is that this is a very bad situation."

"If Commander Sith finds out about Temsik and takes it, all hope is lost." Yomiel lowered his gaze, looking solemn. "They will use its power for evil methods. We can't let it happen."

"I see. This sooounds like something Special Investigation will have to deal with. I'll have the man over there put in a hiiigh security jail."

"If you could find out how his commander managed to learn about the powers of the dead, that would be helpful," Yomiel suggested.

"Right. We'll make him spiiill the beans on everything."

"He's just a hitman though. I don't think we'll get much out of him." Lynne sighed. "This is all so crazy. Why them, why now?"

"My thoughts exactly," Sissel chipped in. (This is like a nightmare. When am I going to wake up?)

"Don't worry. With the best in the police force on this case, we'll get them for sure." Lynne scratched his head.

"There's just one mooore thing that strikes me as odd. Why is he wearing headphones?"

"Oh, those are Sissel's... my fiancée's. We didn't think it was a good idea for him to hear us talking about all this."

"Right, riiight. Good thinking. I'll arrange for a police van now. We'll get to the bottom of this crime." Cabanela snapped his fingers, looking at Jowd with a confident smile on his face. "Won't we, old friend?"

"They won't get away with it this time, not with all of us working together." Jowd looked at the cat, smiling. "You'll help us too, right, Sissel?"

Sissel mewed loudly, twitching his tail.

"Those foreigners have no idea how much trouble they are going to be in," Lynne said, her eyes gleaming.

x-o-x-o-x

After Tengo was taken away, Jowd, Cabanela and Lynne had left Yomiel's house. Lynne was now walking to the shops with Sissel.

"Ugh, what a day it's been," Lynne groaned, rubbing her head furiously. "I think I have a headache coming on. I'll have to get some painkillers."

"I guess having all those memories come back did it?"

"That, and those foreigners reappearing. It's all so much to take in. My head is spinning. Anyway, I'm going to stop by the pet shop and get Missile a special treat. He deserves it. Would you like anything?"

"All I want is for you to not die for at least a week."

Lynne shot him a scathing look. "How about I feed you to a pit bull instead?"

(Yikes. She's not in a good mood. Then again, neither am I.)

"I don't know how I could possibly repay you for everything you've done for me anyway."

"That's okay. I don't expect anything in return. I just want you to stay alive. That's all."

"I see." Lynne smiled at him.

When Lynne was done shopping, they returned to Detective Jowd's house. Kamila was inside, playing with Missile.

"Hey, Missile." Lynne knelt down to pet him as he rushed up to her. "Have you been a good boy?"

"He's been ever so good," said Kamila. "Well, okay, he did bark a few times but I just had to hug him and he would quiet down pretty quickly."

(Typical Missile,) thought Sissel. (I wonder if he's ever barked just to get Kamila to hug him.)

"Kamila..." Lynne stood up, staring at her. Suddenly, she flung her arms around the younger girl. "I'm so happy for you," she whispered.

"Lynne?" Kamila spoke, sounding surprised.

Lynne released her and held her at arms length. Tears were forming in her eyes. "You don't know how lucky you are. I hope you're always going to be happy."

"What are you talking about?"

Lynne shook her head and backed away. "Sorry, I just got a bit emotional there. Well, Missile, it's time to go home."

Kamila waved at them as they left. "How strange. I wonder why Lynne acted like that?" She glanced down at Sissel as if expecting him to give her the answer. "When she held me like that, it felt kind of... nostalgic."

"What?" Sissel felt a twinge of horror. (You can't be about to remember, can you?)

"I haven't told anyone this." Kamila picked Sissel up and murmured into his ear. "Even though I only met Lynne a short time ago, it feels like I've known her a long time. Missile, too. I know it sounds weird but that's just how it is. It's just our secret, alright, Sissy?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Has Special Investigations had any luck so far?" Jowd asked, sipping at the freshly brewed coffee his wife had just brought him.

"Not at all," Cabanela replied. "The guy's like a clam. Even if we try mentioning this Commander Sith person, he won't talk. It's sooo frustrating." He sat back in the chair, crossing his legs. "You said this commander person likes to use submarines, right? He won't be eeeasy to find."

"He may strike again. We'll have to be very careful." Jowd rubbed his bearded chin thoughtfully. "Unfortunately, I don't really know much about this organization. All I really know is that they desire power. If they find out about Temsik, they will certainly steal it."

"Temsik." Cabanela's brow creased. "It's all so mysteeerious, isn't it? These powers of the dead... I find it hard to believe. Not that I'm doubting any of you, mind."

"After we go to meet this friend of mine, I'm sure you'll understand a little more. We just have to wait for Lynne to arrive and then we'll go." Jowd glanced at the clock. "Hmm, she's running a little late."

"Late?" Sissel, who had been lying in his basket listening to them, now sat up. (Why do I get worried about her so easily? I really need to relax.)

"Hope my baby doesn't keep us waiting too long. I'm itching to learn more about this craaazy stuff."

(I might as well pop in anyway and if Lynne's still there, I'll let her know they are getting impatient.) Sissel zipped over to the phone and traveled through the line to her apartment.

When he arrived at the other end of the line, the scene left him flooded with utter dismay. Two lives had been taken away and the man responsible for these deaths was still there, shaking his head.

"What just happened?" the blue man - Nearsighted Jeego, Sissel recalled - moaned. He seemed awfully troubled for some reason. "I can't believe it. The boss is going to be so mad at me. I really wanted a payrise too."

"So Commander Sith sent another hitman? He must have been trying to get the answers from Lynne that he couldn't get from Yomiel." (By the sound of things, it doesn't look like the hitman got what he wanted, fortunately.)

"No use in hanging around here. I don't know what I'm going to tell the boss though." Jeego walked out of the apartment, slamming the door behind himself.

Sissel took a good look at the crime scene. Lynne was lying on the floor, clutching tightly onto her pistol. A glistening crimson puddle had taken form around her head. (So she had her gun on her. She must have not had time to use it.) He then looked at Missile, who lay crumpled against the wall. The little dog's fur was matted with blood.

(Time to save them both.) Sissel switched into the Ghost World and received a shock. While Lynne's body was the regular blue colour that corpses had in the Ghost World, Missile's was orange. (It can't be... Missile is still alive? I'd better talk to him.)

"Missile?" Sissel called out to him.

"Oh, Sissel, you sure got here quick! Thank goodness. Poor, poor Miss Lynne... she's dead again and it's all my fault!"

"What? How can it possibly be all your fault?" Sissel asked in disbelief. "That man who was just here, he shot you, didn't he? I can't believe you're actually still alive."

"Yeah, I'm pretty surprised too to be honest. I thought it was impossible to survive being hit by a bullet but I guess I did. It really hurts though."

"So you've been lying here in pain the whole time?" Sissel felt a twinge of sympathy. "It's a good thing I got here when I did. Who knows how long it might have been otherwise?"

"It might hurt but it's nothing compared to the pain of seeing Miss Lynne lying there dead. Please hurry and save her, Sissel! I tried to do my best, I really did, but it just wasn't enough. It's all up to you now."

(What did he try to do? I guess I'll be finding out soon enough.) "Okay, just hold on, Missile. I'm going to ease your pain now." Sissel ended the conversation and turned his attention to Lynne. (Dead again. She just has the worst luck, doesn't she?)

Sissel reached out to possess Lynne's corpse, entering the Ghost World. Lynne appeared before him with a sad expression on her face.

"Hey, Sissel. It looks like I died again, huh?"

"Why the sad look?" asked Sissel. "It's not like you to let a little thing like dying bother you."

"I'm not sure, I just feel kind of guilty for some reason."

"You too? Missile even said it was his fault. I sincerely doubt it was though."

"Missile? Oh!" Lynne clapped her hands to her mouth. "The poor thing... was he dead when you got here?"

"No, but I think I got here right after you were killed. The hitman was still here when I arrived."

"So he wasn't suffering for too long then. Thank goodness for that," Lynne said, smiling in relief. "I just remember that he got shot but he didn't die right away. I was so worried about him. Then I think I died right after that. My memory of the death is rather hazy as usual."

"I guess you were killed by the hitman," said Sissel. "He sure didn't seem so happy though. Probably because he didn't get what he wanted."

"Wait... did he honestly think I would know anything about what went on in the park that day?"

"Uh, well, you kind of do, Lynne."

"But they don't know that!" Lynne exclaimed angrily. "I was just a little girl playing in the park who had the misfortune to be taken hostage. I never even noticed anything strange happening at the time. Why would they think I had?"

"It's probably just because you were there in the park. Their logic is rather screwy honestly."

"That commander is such a creep," Lynne muttered, clenching her fists. "What gives him the right to go around offing people? Especially innocent people who haven't done anything wrong. Just who does he think he is?"

"He's a nasty piece of work, alright. Well then, time to save your life. Detective Jowd and Inspector Cabanela would like to see you turn up sometime soon. Although you'll probably have to call them over here after this."

"Kept them waiting, did I? You'd better hurry along then."

"Here we go, yet again." Sissel rewound time and started watching the four minutes that had led up to Lynne's death.

Missile was the only one in the room, curled up in a ball and quietly snoozing away on the floor. Eventually, Lynne came walking in from another room, clutching her gun.

"Okay, I've got my gun out of the safe." Lynne set it down on top of the cupboard by the fish tank then she tapped her chin, thinking. "Coat and keys are right here. Oh yeah, I think I'll take some snacks as well. My drawer at the station is getting empty."

"Drawer?" Sissel asked.

"Yes, my drawer for keeping snacks in of course. Sometimes I get the munchies when I'm working."

"Um, right." Sissel resumed watching. Lynne went out of the room again and returned with some packets of crisps and candy bars, which she stuffed into a carry bag.

"I'm going out today, Missile, so you be good and guard the fort while I'm gone," she said, bending down and patting the Pomeranian's head.

The door suddenly flew open, slamming into the wall. Lynne looked up and gasped as she saw who her surprise visitor was. She stood up and took a step back. "You... you're one of those hitmen from the junkyard!"

"Junkyard?" Jeego raised an eyebrow. "I don't know what you're talking about." He strutted into the apartment, raising his golden shotgun. "You've never met me before and I've never met you either."

"You were sent to kill me, weren't you?" Lynne eyed the shotgun that had taken her life in another time and swallowed. "By orders of Commander Sith?"

Jeego looked shocked at the mention of the name but quickly recovered. "Actually, there's something else I have to do before I kill you." He aimed his gun and Lynne raised her arms in the air. "I need you to tell me the secret behind what happened on that day in Temsik Park, ten years ago."

"There's no way I would tell you anything about it," Lynne spat. A bead of sweat slowly trickled down her face. Even though she was used to dying at this point, it was still unnerving to have a hitman in her apartment, pointing a gun right at her.

Missile had been standing by Lynne the whole time, growling furiously with his hackles raised. He recognised the danger Lynne was in and knew better by now than to greet a man holding a gun with a cheerful welcome. His actions, however, were doing very little to deter the hitman and he made the decision to act further. The brave little dog rushed forward and sank his teeth down in Jeego's leg.

"Missile!" Lynne exclaimed in horror. "No, don't!"

"Ow! Get off my leg, furball!" Jeego yelled, furiously shaking his leg in an effort to dislodge his attacker. Despite his best efforts, Missile stubbornly stayed on. Jeego aimed his gun down at the dog and squeezed the trigger.

Missile emitted a sharp yelp of pain as the bullet slammed into his body and flew off the hitman's leg. Jeego kicked his body aside, sneering. "If your dog had behaved itself, I wouldn't have had to do that," he said, looking at Lynne. "You should have taught it how to be better behaved around people."

Lynne looked toward Missile's body sadly, believing that he had been killed by the bullet. She was proven wrong when he let out a keening whimper and she flinched, her eyes growing wide. "Missile!"

"Alright, sister, start talking." Jeego stepped toward her.

"Wait a minute! Missile isn't dead yet! Aren't you going to finish him off?"

"You want me to put your annoying dog out of its mercy? I don't quite fancy wasting another bullet on some dog for that matter. It's not a threat to me anymore so I don't see the point."

"But... I really don't want him to die slowly." Lynne gnawed anxiously on her bottom lip, her eyes darting back and forth in alarm. "Please, you have to! Anyway, it's only one bullet."

"Hmm." Jeego seemed to be considering it. "Maybe if you sit down and tell me what I want to hear, I'll do that. I'm not making any promises though."

Lynne looked over his shoulder at the doorway. "Help me!" she blurted out in a shrill voice.

Jeego, believing that she had been shouting to someone just behind them, immediately whirled around and pointed his gun. He didn't see Lynne reach out and snatch up her pistol. "Hmph, trying to distract me, were you?"

The hitman turned back round and his brow furrowed in confusion. "My eyesight isn't so good these days so I can't always be sure of what I'm seeing," he said slowly. "You're not actually pointing a gun at your own head, are you?"

Lynne took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry," she murmured under her breath. Her finger pushed down on the trigger and a loud bang followed. Blood sprayed out from her head in a scarlet fountain as she fell forward onto the floor.

"I don't believe it." Even though he had seen it with his own eyes, Sissel could barely comprehend what was going on. The whole time he had assumed Lynne was a victim of the hitman and it turned out she had taken her own life. He looked toward Lynne, who was now looking rather sheepish. "You killed yourself!"

"I had to do it for Missile, didn't I? The man wasn't going to do what I asked. Even if he had done it after he'd finished with me, it would have been too late, wouldn't it?" Lynne lowered her gaze. "After all, Sissel, you can't go back more than four minutes. It's useless if the victim's been bleeding to death for longer than that, right?"

"But... wasn't there something else you could have done? Couldn't you just have shot the guy and tried to get help for Missile?"

"Look, I was panicking, okay? Besides... wouldn't it be better if you could stop Missile from getting shot in the first place?"

"I suppose you're right. It looked like the poor little doggie was in a lot of pain after getting hit by that bullet." (I only have a vague memory of what it's like to get hit by one. It was over so fast anyway. But I do remember it was so painful.)

"Sissel, you aren't upset with me for what I did, are you?"

"No, I'm just surprised, that's all. I understand why you had to do it. Still, next time, could you give me a little warning? I'm getting a bit tired of nasty shocks."

"Sorry. I didn't really remember what happened until I saw it myself though. Honestly, even I'm a little surprised. I never thought I would be in a situation where I would have to commit suicide."

"I hope you don't make a habit of it." Sissel turned his gaze to the paused scene before him where Lynne lay dead in front of the stunned hitman. "I'll bet he wasn't expecting that to happen."

"I saved him the trouble of using another one of his precious bullets. How could he want to just leave Missile there, bleeding to death?" Lynne's eyes narrowed as she stared at Jeego. "I wonder if he's even human."

"Well, I did see a surprisingly lifelike robot once." (So lifelike, he even looked like an actual living person in the Ghost World. Just what are those robots made of?)

"What?" Lynne turned her gaze toward him, her brow knotting in confusion.

"Let's just say that country's use of technology is really off." (Now then, what do I do here? I don't think I can stop him from coming into the apartment. I'll figure something out.)

Sissel turned the four minutes back to the beginning. (The little doggie looks so content.) "What does Missile dream about, I wonder?"

"He probably dreams of food and taking walks. I dreamed about food last night too actually. I had this really big chicken right in front of me and I was trying to eat it all, but no matter how much I ate, it just kept on growing!"

"I bet you managed to overcome it in the end though." (No way she would let a giant chicken get the best of her.)

"Actually, no." Lynne's expression turned sad. "It ended up filling the whole room and I suffocated."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that." (Even her subconscious can't give her a break. Poor girl.)

Sissel turned his attention back to the pressing matter at hand. "When that hitman comes in, Missile will attack him and get shot. I don't think distracting the hitman is the safest option this time round." He watched Lynne come into the room. "Hmm, what if I try distracting somebody else?"

"Have you got a plan?"

"I don't know if it will work but I hope so." (Maybe if I could get them out of the room. If she hears the hitman come in from somewhere else, she'll be better prepared. I just hope Missile follows her.)

"There's one thing that will bring Missile running."

"There is?"

"And I left the room again after this. You should follow me and take a look around. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

(So that's the plan. When Lynne leaves, I have to get Missile into the same room as her.)

Sissel waited for Lynne to go and get her snacks, then followed her into the kitchen. While the young detective busied herself with raiding a cupboard, he looked around the room. "The one thing to bring Missile running... has to be something of the little doggie's of course." He spotted two bowls sitting next to each other and moved over to examine them. One bowl was heavy and filled with water, while the other was light and empty. "Hey, Lynne, why is this bowl empty?"

"Because that's his food bowl," Lynne replied. "You're not supposed to leave food out for dogs all the time because they will just eat it up right away and get fat."

"I never knew dogs were such gluttons." Sissel gave the bowl a little shake, causing it to jump slightly. It made a sharp noise upon striking the floor. "Hmm. What if I put more strength into it?"

"You're going to trick Missile into thinking he's getting more food. It's a bit cruel, isn't it?"

(At least she doesn't know about the doors.)

Lynne looked at him accusingly. "Doors? What doors?"

(Oops.) Sissel couldn't think of a good enough excuse. "Er... I might have had a bit too much fun with my ghost tricks. Anyway, he never seems to actually mind."

Lynne's eyes narrowed to slits. "I think it's time somebody set you some rules."

"Uh... I think it would be a good idea to get back to saving your life now."

"Hey! Don't change the subject!"

Sissel made the bowl jump again, rattling it about noisily. Lynne turned around in alarm, noticing the clattering food bowl. A moment later, Missile came running into the kitchen and went straight for the bowl. When he saw it was empty, he looked at Lynne, tilting his head in confusion.

"Don't look at me. I didn't do anything to it," she protested.

(Great, I've got Missile into the room. Just got to do one more thing.) Sissel zipped over to the kitchen door and slammed it shut.

"Okay. You've shut us both in the kitchen," Lynne said. "Now what? That won't stop the hitman from coming in."

"This is the hard part. I'll just see how things play out for now."

"Why did the door slam?" asked past Lynne, glancing at the window. "It couldn't have been the wind." She started walking to the door.

(No! Don't open it, that's the only thing keeping Missile in here!) Sissel needed to distract her and fast. He hopped over to the microwave and opened the door then gave it a hard slam.

Lynne whirled around, her eyes widening. "What was that? Hmm... Missile's food bowl was moving all by itself, the door slammed all by itself... Sissel, is that you?" Her expression changed to one of annoyance. "Hey, this isn't funny! Are you trying to scare me? Sissel? Talk to me!"

"I can't!"

"Oh yeah, you really can't talk to people with cores in the past, can you? I'll have to remember that next time," said spirit Lynne.

(Next time...?)

In the living world, Lynne heard the front door slamming against the wall as Jeego made his entrance. She moved to the door and pressed her ear against it, listening closely.

"Someone's come into my house?" Lynne murmured. Her eyes grew wide as realisation struck her. "Oh no. I died again, didn't I?"

(Wow, she figured it out. Well done, Lynne.)

"I should have holstered my gun. Oh well, I'll just have to improvise." Lynne quickly picked Missile up and set him on the table. "Don't even think about trying to jump down," she warned him. Missile sat down, watching her with avid curiosity while she rummaged around in the cupboards.

"Aha, this should do." Lynne pulled out a large frying pan.

Sissel looked at the frying pan incredulously. (Is she serious?)

"Hey, that's a heavy frying pan, okay? I'm sure it's going to work."

"If you say so..." Sissel said doubtfully. There probably weren't a lot of things in the kitchen that would make a good weapon, he supposed, so Lynne really didn't have a lot of choice in the matter.

Lynne walked over to the door and opened it a little, then slammed it hard enough for her intruder to hear. She got into position against the wall and waited. The door opened again and Jeego walked into the kitchen.

"Where are you, my prey?" Jeego noticed Missile, who was still on the table, and stepped forward, squinting. "Is that a dog?"

"Yah!" Lynne swung the frying pan with all her strength. It slammed into the back of his head with a satisfying thud. Jeego's eyes rolled up and he toppled to the floor, a moan slipping through his lips.

(I don't believe it. It actually worked.)

"See? I told you." Lynne smiled smugly. "I might die a lot, but I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

"Something doesn't sound right about that. Well then, let's get back to the new present."

"Okay. See you then!"

In the new present, Sissel saw Jeego lying on his front with his hands tied tightly behind his back. His legs too had been tied up. (Looks like he won't be going anywhere for a while.)

In the living room, Lynne was talking on the phone and Missile was sitting next to her. Sissel waited until she hung up before talking to her. "I take it you called them?"

"Yeah, Inspector Cabanela and Detective Jowd should be over here soon." Lynne fell quiet for a few seconds. "So that blue guy really did come to ask me questions about the park."

"They must be targeting everyone who was there. Which means... Detective Jowd must be next, right?"

"I suppose so. I'm just going to get my body. We can talk more about this later."

Sissel returned home and reclaimed his body. Jowd and Cabanela were about to head out the door when he came running up to them.

"Ah, Sissel. You're coming along?" The detective picked him up. "It looks like we're having no end of trouble these days."

(If I ever get to meet the Grim Reaper, I'll be asking him to let me take a break.)

"So another one of that commander's lackeys showed his face already? I should have anticipated this." Cabanela looked grim. "My baby was in danger and I didn't realise."

Jowd slipped Sissel into one of his coat pockets. "Maybe this one will be more talkative than the last. Let's hurry over and see, shall we?"

x-o-x-o-x

"I don't believe this!" Jowd shouted furiously after he had heard Lynne's story. "That commander seriously thought you would know something just because you were in the park? You were just a little girl who was taken hostage then."

"I know." Lynne clenched her fist. "He's an idiot! I only know about the powers of the dead because of Sissel saving me from death. He couldn't know about that."

Cabanela came walking out of the kitchen. "That guy isn't saying aaanything at the moment. Those hitmen are good at keeping their mouths shut, that's for sure. Maybe Special Investigations can get something out of him but I'm doubtful about it."

"Detective Jowd." Lynne frowned concernedly. "You know you're probably next on their list, right? You were in the park too after all."

"I'm not worried." Detective Jowd smiled. "If some blue man turns up on my doorstep asking me about the powers of the dead, I'll be ready to deal with him. If I die, Sissel will just bring me back to life."

"It must be nice not to worry about these things," Sissel muttered wearily.

"Yeah, it really is," Lynne responded, a grin splitting her face. "But I'm sure Detective Jowd won't die so easily. He's a great detective after all."

"Hooray. Less work for me."

"Don't tell me you're tired of saving people!" Missile cut in. "That's not a very nice attitude to have."

"Oh no, I'm just really frustrated because of those foreigners turning up again. I thought everything was going to be fine from now on and there would be nothing to worry about. Boy, was I wrong."

"Well, don't let it get you down," said Lynne. "Cheer up, okay? I don't like to see sad kittens."

"I'm not sad!"

"Hello?" A new voice interrupted the conversation going on. Two uniformed men came into the room.

"Heeere you are. The criminal is in that room." Cabanela jerked a thumb. "Take him away, boys."

Jeego was taken out of the apartment, not saying a single word the whole time. His face was fixed in a sullen expression of defeat.

"So how diiid you take him down, Lynne?"

"I whacked him with a frying pan," Lynne replied. Jowd and Cabanela reacted with surprised looks. "Why the looks? It worked pretty well."

"I imagine the guy's not going to want to admit to being knocked out by a frying pan," Jowd said, laughing. "Well then, now that that's over, let's go and see my friend. The sooner Cabanela understands what exactly is going on, the better."

"I never thought I would be exciiited to learn about rocks." Cabanela danced out of the room. "This crazy stuff just has me intrigued."

x-o-x-o-x

"A laboratory?" Lynne looked up at the tall building before them. "So this guy who's researching Temsik is a scientist?"

"He used to work for the police as a medical examiner," Jowd said. "When I heard he was thinking about retiring, I suggested he take on a new profession. He finds this whole Temsik thing quite fascinating."

"He sure found me fascinating too," Sissel said. It had been quite an experience, lying there on a table for what seemed like hours while someone was prodding and poking at his body.

"Oh, you've met him?" Lynne asked.

"Yeah... so have you and Cabanela, in the other timeline. Remember that old pigeon man who worked at the junkyard?"

"Oh, that guy?" Lynne looked at the building again. "Well, this place is much better than a dusty old office in a dirty junkyard."

They went into the building and looked around for the lab. It was a difficult task considering the size of the building and they had to walk through so many identical looking corridors but soon they were able to find the right lab.

The Professor was poring over pictures of the Temsik meteorite when the door opened. He turned around to face his visitors. "So you made it. I was beginning to think you might have got lost in this ridiculously huge building."

"We did have a little trouble. They should put more signs up in this place," said Jowd. "Let me introduce you to Inspector Cabanela and Detective Lynne."

"It's nice to meet you," said Lynne.

"Just call me Professor. So you two came for a lesson on Temsik? I'll be happy to teach you all about it." He picked up the pictures of the meteorite and placed them down on the table before everyone.

"So this is Temsik?" Cabanela leaned forward, studying the pictures. "It really just looks like a bunch of ooordinary rocks to me."

"Though they are anything but ordinary," Lynne said. "Where did Temsik come from? I suppose we'll never know the answer to that, will we?"

"It might look normal on the outside but it has very special qualities. The radiation coming from this meteorite is completely unique," said the Professor. "There has never been any radiation like it before."

"And if you die in the presence of that radiation, you will be granted the powers of the dead," Lynne supplied.

"Oh, so you already know about it, do you?" the old man asked.

Lynne nodded. "I even know what the meteorite will do to someone if it's inside their body at the moment of death. I met somebody who was in that very situation. It caused him a great deal of suffering."

"Who is that person?" the Professor asked, looking at Jowd. "You haven't told me about them."

"That's because his fate was changed thanks to the powers of the dead." Jowd took Sissel out and placed him on the table. "This kitten here, on the other hand, has a piece of the meteorite inside him."

"He does?" Cabanela's jaw dropped. "Then, are you telling me that your kitten is actually deeead? But how come he looks perfectly fine?"

"That's thanks to the power of Temsik. It's time for a little demonstration." The Professor put away the photographs and turned his attention to a shelf covered with various pieces of equipment.

(Here we go again. This must be what a lab rat feels like.) Sissel lay down on the table. (At least it doesn't hurt.)

"Aha. This should do." The Professor turned around, holding up a very sharp looking knife.

Cabanela backed away, his eyes widening. "What are yooou planning to do with that knife?"

"He's going to cut up the kitten of course," Jowd said, smiling in amusement.

"Ouch," Lynne muttered.

"It won't hurt, Lynne," Sissel said. "It won't even cut."

"Yeah, I know that, but it's not going to be easy watching him try to cut you up with a knife. When I'm watching a horror movie, I can't help but be creeped out even though it's fictional, you know?"

(This isn't a horror movie. Though I know what a movie is, I don't exactly know what a horror movie is supposed to be. All I know is that Kamila's parents won't let her watch one.)

"Oh, really? I guess I shouldn't tell Detective Jowd I let Kamila watch a horror movie once. It scared her so much she ended up taking Missile to bed and hugging him all night."

(Poor Kamila...)

"Watch carefully." The Professor rolled Sissel over onto his back and ran the knife across his front, making sure to press down hard so that the tip disappeared into the soft flesh. "See how the knife isn't even cutting him? There is no blood and he doesn't even feel pain."

"Ye gods," Cabanela uttered.

"You could put him at the center of an explosion and he would come out completely intact. That's all thanks to the meteorite fragment," said the Professor.

"But... how?"

"The meteorite is regenerating his body," Lynne said. "He's constantly cycling between the moments of life and death. That's why he's been a kitten for the past ten years. He will never grow."

"Something like this would be quite alluring to certain people. Imagine someone having an army of dead people with Temsik fragments inside them. You wouldn't be able to do a thing to them," Jowd said.

"That sounds friiightening." Cabanela's face paled.

"That's not all." The Professor put the knife away then took a desk lamp and put it on the table. "Okay, Sissel, can you possess this for me?"

Sissel obligingly moved over to the desk lamp.

"See how his body has gone limp? That's because he's no longer there," the old man pointed out. "He can move around between objects and you can't see him doing it at all." He glanced at the desk lamp. "Now show him your power."

(Are we nearly done yet?) Sissel made the desk lamp flex back and forth, switching the light on for good measure.

"So thiiis is the power of the dead," said Cabanela. He appeared to be a little spooked by the sight of the moving desk lamp.

"Sissel's power is manipulating objects. Different ghosts get different powers though. I knew a ghost who could manipulate people and another one who could swap objects," said Jowd.

"They can also travel through phone lines and go back in time to four minutes before a death," Lynne said.

"Wow. What caaan't these ghosts do?" Cabanela rubbed his forehead. "This is all a lot to take in."

"I think we're about done now," said the Professor. "So, what necessitated a lesson for the Inspector here, Jowd?"

"Someone is trying to find out about the powers of the dead. Temsik would be very valuable to an evil organization as you can imagine. They could build undefeatable armies and use ghosts as spies, not to mention make use of their powers."

"If that organization got a hold of the meteorite, we would be in unimaginable trouble." Cabanela was starting to sweat. "We can't possibly let them discover this secret."

"As long as they don't know about the meteorite, it will be safe. For now, it's buried in the crater in Temsik Park where it fell all those years ago," said the Professor. "People were quite interested in the meteorite when it first fell, but it was quickly forgotten about. Even I didn't pay it any attention until I felt like retiring and then Jowd suggested I study it. At first, I thought he was crazy, especially when he was telling me about its magical properties."

"I don't blame you. So, Cabanela, you think you understand it now?"

Cabanela could only nod.

"I wonder how the organization learned about what happened in the park," Lynne said. "Someone would have had to contact them in the first place."

"Someone who was in the park that day." Sissel had returned to his body and was sitting up. "They saw the powers of the dead in action. Come to think of it, there was somebody watching that day."

"Oh yeah. Wait!" Lynne looked incredulous. "Are you trying to say that person who was protecting the 'Rock of the Gods' is the one who contacted them? Surely he wouldn't have. He didn't look like a bad person."

"No, I don't think so, but there could easily have been someone else watching. Perhaps the park's protector would know something. I wonder if he's still living in the park in this time."

"I see!" Lynne's eyes lit up. "If he hangs around that park, he's bound to have noticed someone suspicious. Great idea!" She scooped Sissel up in her arms then spoke out loud to Jowd and Cabanela. "Sissel's had an idea so I'm going to Temsik Park. I'll see you later."

As she raced out, Cabanela turned to Jowd, looking confused. "Did the cat speak to her?"

x-o-x-o-x

Lynne walked into the park, pausing to gaze at the scenery. "I haven't set foot inside this park in ten years. It looks exactly the same as it did in the other timeline. Nothing's changed at all."

"It's just as desolate and littered with waste as it was then. Even though so many fates were changed when I went back in time, this park's fate remained unchanged."

"It's kind of sad." Lynne looked around at the playground equipment. Her eyes misted over with nostalgia. "I used to love this park. Children were always coming to play here. It was a place filled with fun and laughter. Now it's been all but forgotten about."

"Oh, a visitor!" The voice of a young man floated over to them on the breeze. Lynne turned around to see the familiar youth. He walked up to her then reached into his bag and pulled out a pamphlet. "Stop the park from charging admission! Protect the rights of those who live here!"

"Here's someone else whose fate wasn't changed," Sissel observed. (Though now he's fighting for a different cause.)

"Are you even allowed to live here?" Lynne asked.

"Er, well, it is true that there are certain people who might not see things my way. However, this park has fallen on such bad times. There are rarely any visitors and I cannot simply let the park be forgotten about." The youth fell silent, staring at Lynne. "Hmm... don't I know you from somewhere?"

"You saw me ten years ago, didn't you? I was a little girl who was taken hostage in this very park."

"Oh, oh! Now I remember! Of course, how could I forget the day I saw the gods in action? It was an incredible sight and I shall remember it to my dying day!"

"Here we go with the gods again," said Sissel.

"Can you tell me about what you saw?"

"Of course! I suppose you were unaware of anything that went on since you had passed out from the shock of being taken hostage. Then I shall be happy to fill you in on the details! Do you remember Mino?"

"Mino, the mascot of Temsik Park, right?"

(And a creepy abomination.)

"Yes, that's right. It used to sit on top of that fountain, watching over the park and the people who came."

(And wishing it could crush them all.)

"Sissel, that's enough. You're being distracting."

"Then stop listening to my thoughts."

"That is, until the day you were taken hostage. It was a most frightful experience! I was watching while that terrible man held you in his grip, pointing his gun at the detective who had come to your rescue, wondering if there was something I should do. Then something ever so strange happened. Mino moved right onto the lamppost by the fountain, all by itself!"

"Amazing. It really did that?" Lynne feigned surprise.

"Yes. I believe that the power of the gods caused Mino to move. Seconds later, the sky became a brilliant bluish white and a meteorite came falling from the sky. When it crashed into the ground, it gave off a shower of fragments. One of those fragments looked like it was going to hit the man who was holding you hostage. Perhaps it would have, had Mino not been in its way. Isn't that odd? It was almost like the gods wanted to save him."

"So Mino got in the fragment's way?"

"Yes, it caused the fragment to hit the poor detective's leg. But he didn't let a little pain stop him! Though he had fallen down, he bravely held his gun up and let off a shot in a desperate attempt to save the little girl's life!"

"It wasn't exactly like that," Sissel said for Lynne's benefit. "The pain caused him to pull the trigger."

"And yet, though the bullet hit the man, he wasn't killed!"

"That's because it switched places with your sweet potato," Sissel added.

"The man went flying onto the lamppost, right on one of those spikes. I must admit, even I winced a bit at the sight! You were finally released from his hold and it was such a relief. Then as you lay there unconscious, something most frightening happened."

"What was that?"

"The lamppost suddenly started to bend even more and Mino started to fall. You were right in its path. I cried in horror and prayed for the gods to save you. Then... a baked potato went flying over the fountain, propelled by a fierce gush of water. In an instant, it had switched places with Mino. Mino, however, continued to fall... but then something incredible happened! That man, who just a moment ago had threatened your life, pulled himself off the lamppost and fell down next to you, right underneath Mino. He threw you out of harm's way and Mino crushed his legs!"

"That's quite a story," Lynne commented.

"Maybe the gods realised the man wasn't so bad after all and they saved his life. Though it was wrong of him to take you hostage, he did redeem himself by saving you."

"Um, Lynne, I'm glad you're enjoying listening to his story but shouldn't we start asking about anything suspicious?" Sissel reminded her.

"Oh yeah. Listen, have you ever seen anybody strange in this park? Was there someone else here on that day ten years ago apart from you and those of us involved in the hostage incident?"

"I don't know about that day, but there is a man who often comes into the park. I must say, he does seem like a suspicious individual. Why, whenever I try to talk to him, he's always being so rude to me and ignoring me!"

(What's suspicious about that?)

"He often sits by that crater and mutters to himself. I don't know why, but I have overheard him talking about a mystery, whatever that is. Maybe he's interested in the meteorite? I think I saw him over there just a few minutes ago actually."

"Okay, thanks. Look, don't tell a soul about what you saw on that day, alright? Not about the powers of the gods or anything," Lynne insisted. "Promise me you won't."

"The powers of the gods must be kept a secret? I see. I won't say a word. Now, would you like one of my pamphlets? It's important that I'm able to keep living in this park where I saw the gods perform a miracle!"

"Yeah, sure." Lynne took the pamphlet, not even bothering to glance at it. "Thanks again."

"May the gods continue to protect you!" The reckless youth waved a hand then walked off.

"You hear that?" Lynne said to Sissel.

"I'm still not a god," Sissel responded flatly.

"Anyway, let's go see if that person's still there." Lynne hurried past the fountain and caught sight of a man sitting before the monument. "That must him. Excuse me?"

The man heard her calling and stood up, turning around. He appeared to be of middle age and had sharp, narrow eyes. His chin was stubbly and his hair long and unkempt.

(Hey, I've seen that man before... oh yeah, it was when I was searching for Lynne. I guess he really does come here often.)

"Yes? What is it?" the man asked. As he got a good look at Lynne, his eyes flashed in recognition. "You are..."

"Were you in the park ten years ago on the day Temsik fell from the sky?"

"I remember you. You were that little girl who was taken hostage." The man's mouth curved in a smile and he walked over. His long coat flapped as a breeze blew past. "It must have been a traumatic experience for you. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"So you were there then?"

"What a strange day that was." The man reached up and ran a hand through his hair. "Tell me, do you believe in miracles?"

"Uh, well..." Lynne hesitated, thinking about her answer. "Maybe miracles can happen. I've never really seen one though."

"Heh, is that so? I saw something very strange happen in this park. You wouldn't believe me even if I told you. Some people might call what happened a miracle, but you know what? I don't believe in miracles."

"So what does he think happened then?" Sissel wondered.

"If what happened wasn't a miracle, what was it?" Lynne asked.

"I don't know the answer to that yet but I'm going to find out." His gaze fell upon Sissel. "Hm, I remember seeing you holding a little black kitten that day. Surely this isn't the same kitten."

"What?" Lynne exclaimed, taking a step back. Her grip tightened around Sissel for a second. "Of course not! It's been ten years. He would be the size of an adult cat by now."

"Right. Sorry to ask such a strange question." He gazed at her intently. "Well, it's been a pleasure meeting you. My name is Cotts. Perhaps we'll see each other again soon, Lynne." He started walking away.

"Wait a minute!" Lynne called out. "How do you know my name?"

"Saw it in a newspaper article."

Lynne watched his retreating back until he was gone. "I don't like the look of him."

"Yeah, I don't either. That was good thinking, telling him I wasn't the same kitten."

"Of course I wasn't going to let him know that. So, he's trying to find out what happened on that day. We might have found our culprit."

"Now what do we do?"

"Unfortunately, I can't arrest him on the grounds that he looks suspicious and might be the informant. We need something concrete before we can haul him in."

"Rats. I should have known it wouldn't be that easy."

"We never saw him in that other timeline, did we? I guess he had no reason to be getting involved in this when all he saw was a meteorite fall and end up killing a man. It was nothing more than a freak accident."

"I can't believe something like this happened. It didn't occur to me someone's fate could end up changing for the worse."

"You don't know what kind of man he was in the other time, Sissel. Besides, I'll bet he wasn't very nice to begin with anyway." Lynne walked back to the park's entrance. "We'll just have to keep an eye on him for now."

x-o-x-o-x

"Blast it!" Commander Sith banged down on the table with a fist. "That "One Step Ahead" Tengo never reported on the results of his task and now Nearsighted Jeego hasn't called in either. They should have taken out the targets by now. Just what is going on?"

"Perhaps they both failed to do the job, sir," his robotic servant suggested. "If they were in jail or dead, contacting you would be difficult, sir."

"You don't think I know that?" The commander reached out for the bushel of grapes and started eating moodily. "If they were taken by the police, they can forget about being bailed out. I have no need for useless hitmen. If they alerted the targets to the danger they were in, this job is going to be much more difficult."

"We still have one target left, sir."

"And I wonder how our next hitman is going to do? We can't afford another loss. Hmm, are we hooked up to the communication cables?"

"I believe we are, sir."

"Then I want to put a call through to the contact. We need to talk about this."

"Very well, sir." His servant tapped away on the control panel and swiped it. The table was flipped over, granting Commander Sith access to the telephone. He took the handset and dialled. The call was picked up a few seconds later.

"Is that you, Commander?"

"Is that all you have to say? I've already lost two hitmen trying to discover the secrets you wanted so badly. I'm starting to wonder if this is even a good idea."

"You're not thinking of cutting off our deal, are you? After all, this will benefit both of us. Wouldn't you like to get those powers I saw in action for yourself?"

"Indeed, but..."

"You said you lost two hitmen?"

"Well, one of them is known to have failing eyesight. I would have expected better from the other one. I haven't heard a peep from them since they went out to do the job!"

"Could it be because of these powers they are failing?"

Commander Sith jumped in the chair. "Oh! No, that hadn't occurred to me at all."

"That was careless of you. Your next hitman should be better prepared. I've gone to a lot of risk contacting you and I don't want to see this fail. I thought your power and technology would be just what I needed. Don't prove me wrong."

The call ended with a dull click. The commander slammed the handset down.

Sith sat back in the chair, scowling. "Careless? The nerve of that man! How could I have known my hitmen would fail because of such a thing?"

"What will we do now, sir? We can't afford another failure."

"It's time for some new tactics. I'm going to call the hitman division. We need one of the best."


	7. Chapter 7

Sissel sat upon one of the highest branches of the tree in his family's back yard, watching the sun's rays peek over the horizon. The night had passed by without any trouble. He had been on guard the whole time, fully expecting a hitman to kick the door in at any moment. With the arrival of dawn, he had decided to relax and gone outside to enjoy the view.

"I wonder when Commander Sith will strike again. After Yomiel and Lynne, Detective Jowd has to be next. It sure is frustrating, waiting for something to happen." Sissel was almost starting to wish the next hitman would come already then he could deal with them and not have to worry about it anymore. (Come to think of it, what if he just keeps on sending one hitman after another? He'll have to change tactics soon enough.)

The little kitten stayed up in the tree for a while longer before deciding to go inside. Everybody would surely be awake by now. He dropped down from the branch, falling straight to the ground without any trouble, and walked inside the house.

Detective Jowd was sitting at the table, quickly wolfing down his breakfast. Sissel could hear rattling sounds coming from the kitchen, presumably the lady of the house emptying the dishwasher.

"Looks like we managed to have a trouble free night," Jowd spoke quietly to the kitten as he approached him. "That's good, isn't it?" He reached down to pat his head.

(Knowing someone's bound to come sooner or later doesn't make it any better.) Sissel wondered if they were even going to try bursting into his house again. What if they randomly shot him out on the street instead? At least he could count on Lynne to come and get him if something happened and he wasn't there. That eased his worry somewhat.

"Morning, Dad," Kamila said as she came walking into the room, still dressed in her pajamas and dressing gown.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well?"

"Uh huh." Kamila nodded. She went to pet Sissel before going into the kitchen and re-emerged a few minutes later with a plate of toast and glass of apple juice.

Jowd finished off the last of his breakfast and leaned back in the chair, patting his stomach contentedly. "It's time for me to go to work now."

Kamila looked up from her breakfast. "But it's so early, Dad. Do you really have to go already?"

"Sorry, we're just really busy at work at the moment." Jowd stood up and rubbed her head. "I'll try to come home earlier, but I can't make any promises."

"Okay." Kamila took a bite from her toast and chewed silently, staring at her plate.

"You're off now?" Alma came out of the kitchen, wiping her wet hands on a cloth. "Take care, honey."

Jowd walked over to his wife and kissed her on the lips. "I'll be careful," he assured her. He picked up his green coat from the coat hook on the wall and opened the front door. Before he left, he turned round. "Goodbye. I love you both."

"Detective Jowd doesn't seem to be worried at all, not that that's a surprise. Come to think of it, he did leave a bit earlier than usual, didn't he? He said work was busy, but maybe he just doesn't want a hitman coming into the house." Sissel turned his gaze toward Kamila, noticing the downcast look on her face. He rubbed against her leg, attempting to cheer her up. (It's better if they don't come here. I wouldn't want the little lady to have a memory of dying.)

"Oh, Sissy." Kamila reached down and picked him up, placing him in her lap. "Did you want a cuddle? Aw, you're so cute." She hugged him to her chest, a smile appearing on her face.

After Kamila was done eating her breakfast, she took the kitten into the living room and occupied herself by making him chase after a ball of a yarn. Sissel became so engrossed in playing with it and making an effort to entertain her that he ended up tangled in the yarn. Kamila was too busy laughing at his predicament to be of any help.

"The things I do for the little lady," Sissel said as he futilely tried to free himself. (I guess I'm just going to have to manipulate it.) He possessed the yarn and quickly loosened it before jumping back into his body and sitting up, now free of its snare.

"Huh?" Kamila's mouth was hanging open in astonishment. "I could swear that yarn was moving all by itself. Maybe I was just imagining things."

Sissel stretched himself out and made a show of licking his fur.

"Are you bored of playing now?" Kamila took the ball of yarn and wrapped the loose string round it. "Hmm, I wonder what's on television right now." She set down the yarn ball and wandered over to the sofa.

"I guess my work here is done." Sissel left through the catflap. He walked to the end of the drive, taking in the scenery. "It's so peaceful right now. If only it could always be like this." (If Commander Sith has sent a hitman after Detective Jowd, I doubt they will be coming here while he's at work. I think it will be safe to leave the little lady and her mother alone.)

A faint squeak reached the kitten's ears and he turned his head, seeking out the source of the noise. He caught sight of a rat scurrying along the street and crouched down, waving his tail. "I guess I'll have a little fun of my own. Even a ghost as busy as me needs to relax and enjoy myself once in a while, right?" (I'll have to be careful not to kill it though. Not only am I more sympathetic toward rats than I used to be, I don't want to go giving it ghost tricks.) Sissel took off after the rat and began an exciting game of chase, momentarily forgetting the worries that had been burdening him.

x-o-x-o-x

"Kamila?" Alma called out. She jotted one more thing down on the piece of paper lying on the table. Kamila came out of the living room, regarding her with a quizzical look. "Could you go out to the shops and get some things? I've got a few things to do round the house today."

"Okay, Mom." Kamila picked up the piece of paper, reading it carefully. "This is the list of things you want me to get?"

"Yes. Here's some money." Alma handed her a wad of rolled up bills in a cellophane bag. "Be careful with it and remember not to talk to any strangers on the way."

"Yeah, I know." Kamila pocketed the money and shopping list. She headed out the door. "Bye, Mom. I'll be back as soon as I can." The young girl walked to the street and started her journey to the shops. She was unaware of the eyes watching her through tinted windows, following her every move.

The black car had been sitting on the street close to Jowd's home for a few hours now and nobody had paid any attention to it or the man sitting inside. Only now, when Kamila had exited the house, did it start to move. It slowly rolled along the street as its driver kept a careful eye on her, his hands tightly gripping the steering wheel.

Kamila never noticed the car even as it pulled up over to her side of the street and came to a stop. The driver rolled down the window and leaned out.

"Excuse me, miss?" he called out, stopping her in her tracks.

Kamila hesitantly turned around. She didn't recognise the voice and knew she probably should just have ignored it, but it could just have been a person who needed help. In that case, she should probably pay attention to him after all. To do otherwise seemed rude. The sight of the blue-skinned man with sharp features and a jagged scar running down the side of his face caused her to take a sudden step back, a jolt of fear and confusion running through her.

Immediately, Kamila felt ashamed to have reacted to his appearance in such a way. She didn't know why but looking at this blue-skinned man made her feel uneasy. The jagged scar and the wide brimmed hat casting a shadow over his eyes didn't make it feel any better. Kamila swallowed heavily, trying to ignore her discomfort. It was never good to be prejudiced toward people and she knew that.

"Y-yes?" she stuttered out.

"I'm looking for the Chicken Kitchen," said the man. "Could you tell me where it is?"

"The restaurant? It's on Dead End Drive. If you go past Temsik Park, you should be able to find it."

"I see. Thank you very much for your help, kind miss." The man tipped his hat, giving her a grateful smile. "Are you going somewhere? I could give you a lift there if you like."

Kamila took another step back, shaking her head. There was no way she was going to get into a stranger's car, especially when they made her feel so unsettled. Her mother would have a fit if she even thought about it. "No, that's alright. I can walk there myself," she replied, her voice quivering slightly.

"Alright, just thought I'd help." The man disappeared back into the car, rolling the window up.

Kamila turned away and started walking again. The sound of the car starting up made her shiver and she considered running for it. What if that offer had really been an intent to kidnap her? She wished somebody else was there with her right now.

The car slowly drove on past her and Kamila began to relax, letting out the breath she had been holding in. She mentally scolded herself for being so paranoid in the first place. It seemed he really was just a man who wanted some directions after all. She watched the back of the car, waiting for it to speed up and leave.

Instead of doing so, it came to a sudden stop. Kamila halted, her brow furrowing in a confused frown. Why had he stopped all of a sudden just now? She felt her heart start beating faster in her chest, spurred on by her fear.

The man leaped out of the car and charged toward her. Before Kamila even had a chance to scream, he clamped his hand over her mouth and her scream came out as a muffled whimper. His other arm snaked around her chest, pinning her arms to her body.

"You're smarter than I thought you would be," he said, holding on to her tightly. Though she furiously struggled against his hold, he didn't seem bothered by her efforts. "Sorry about this, kid, but I have a job to do." The man extracted a wet rag from his jacket pocket and pressed it against her face. Kamila was overwhelmed by the sweet smell that flooded her sinuses and her vision quickly became dark. She became limp and he tossed her into the back of the car. He got in and checked out his reflection in the rear view mirror, smiling at himself.

"Now I have the daughter. Next up is the mother." He started up the car and chuckled under his breath. "Ruthless Rengo never fails."

x-o-x-o-x

Alma put aside the pile of freshly ironed clothes and exhaled, brushing aside the loose strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail. "There we go. All done." She glanced at the clock on the wall, taking note of the time. It had been quite a while since Kamila had gone out and she still had yet to come back. She had even said she would be back as soon as she could.

"Where is that Kamila?" Alma shook her head wearily. "Don't tell me she got distracted and went off to play." She sat down at the table, resting her chin in her hands, and closed her eyes for a moment. It was so quiet in the house when she was alone. Even the cat had gone off somewhere and hadn't come back yet.

The silence was broken by the phone's shrill ring. Alma got up and went to answer it. "Hello, this is Alma speaking. Who is this?"

"I am speaking to the wife of Detective Jowd, correct?"

The deep voice was not one that Alma recognised. "Yes, it is," she replied, her brow furrowing. "Who are you?" She felt a brief flutter of worry stir in her chest. Could this call be about her husband? Though he was a very capable detective, there was no denying it was a dangerous job. "This isn't about my husband, is it?"

"I see no need to tell you my name right now, I'm afraid. Besides, it's not your husband you should be worrying about."

"Huh?" Alma's grip tightened on the phone and her mouth became dry. She stole another glance at the clock, the irises of her eyes shrinking down as she stared numbly at the clock. "No... please," she whispered, shaking her head. This couldn't be happening.

"Are you wondering where your daughter is right now?"

The mention of her daughter sent a spike of anguish through her chest. "What have you done with her?" Alma screamed into the phone. "You have better not have hurt a hair on her head!"

"Shall I let you listen to her voice? She's wide awake now and I'm sure she's eager to have a little chat with you. Alright, little girl, do you want to talk to Mommy? Here she is. Go on, say hello."

"Mom!" Kamila's shrill voice blared out from the receiver. "I'm so sorry..." She paused to sob. "You told me not to talk to strangers and I still talked to that man in the car. He jumped out and grabbed me." She broke off again, sniffling loudly. "I'm so scared, Mom. I want Dad to come and save me."

Alma's vision blurred as tears welled up in her eyes. "Kamila... oh, my poor baby." Her knees weakened and she clutched onto the top of the cupboard to steady herself before she fell.

"As you can see, your daughter is alive and she is also unharmed. Don't be cross with her for talking to strangers. I was going to kidnap her whether she talked to me or not."

"How could you? You monster!"

"I'm not a monster, I just do what I'm paid to do. No matter how horrible it is, I'll do it. All I'm interested in is earning my wages. Now then... I'm going to tell you what you have to do if you want to see your daughter again so listen carefully. There's an abandoned warehouse outside of town, at the north exit. If you take the second turn at the left, you'll reach it eventually. I want you to go there. This should go without saying, but you are not to contact the police or tell anyone about this, especially not your husband. Understand?"

Alma closed her eyes. "I understand," she said in a defeated tone.

"Good." There was a click and the line went dead. Alma just stood there listening to the dial tone as the harsh reality of what was happening slowly sank in.

x-o-x-o-x

Sissel was lying on his back and looking up at the cloudy sky. After chasing various small creatures who were unlucky enough to cross his path for a long while, he had finally had enough of the game. Now he was simply relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet.

"How long have I been gone?" Sissel realised he had probably spent far longer playing outside than he should have. What if something had happened while he had been out? (I guess I really should be getting back home now. If something happened and Lynne came to get me but she couldn't find me, I bet she would be pretty annoyed. I sure hope nothing did happen yet.)

Sissel stretched himself out, meowing loudly, then set off toward home. He had gone further than he thought and it took a while to get back even when running but soon enough he made it back. The little kitten slipped through the catflap and listened out for the sounds of activity in the house but there was only silence. He looked through all the downstairs rooms, finding every one of them empty. Kamila and her mother weren't in any of the upstairs rooms either.

"I wonder if the little lady and her mother went out somewhere. At least I hope that's the case. It doesn't look like a hitman came by the house, thank goodness." Sissel walked into the living room. (I guess I'll just entertain myself until they come back then. I wonder where they went?)

Sissel jumped up onto the table where an old radio sat. He had already figured out how to manipulate the radio and learned that turning the individual dials could control the sound that came out of it. (Since I'm alone, it's a good time to listen to some music. It's too bad I can't do this very often.) If the radio appeared to start playing music by itself, Alma would likely throw it in the trash. He was reluctant to let it suffer such a fate.

After turning the dials, a catchy melody began pulsing from the radio. "This one sounds nice." Sissel curled up in a ball and closed his eyes, listening to the music in contentment.

A while later, Sissel heard the front door open and close. He quickly turned off the radio and went running out of the living room, expecting to see Alma and Kamila. Instead he saw Detective Jowd.

"Hello, Sissel. Alma and Kamila aren't home, are they?" When Sissel shook his head, he frowned. "I tried calling home a few times earlier but they never answered. I thought I would come back and check on them."

(If anything happened, I would have dealt with it. Even he doesn't know where they went? I wonder how long they were gone.) Sissel was starting to become worried. (Could something have happened after all?)

"Maybe something came up all of a sudden but surely Alma would have called me at the station?" Jowd walked into the kitchen and Sissel followed him. The detective started making himself some coffee. "While I'm here, I guess I'll make myself some coffee. You don't know where they went, do you, Sissel?"

Sissel shook his head again.

"Sometimes I wish I still had a core of the dead. Well, that would be easy enough. I just have to die and you'll bring me back to life, right?" Jowd smiled.

Sissel flattened his ears, letting out a sharp meow that he hoped would get the point across. He would not be amused if Detective Jowd got himself killed just so he could get a core.

"You really don't have much of a sense of humour, do you?" Jowd waited for the kettle to boil before pouring the scalding water into his mug. "According to Cabanela, that other hitman is just as unwilling to talk as his buddy. I figured it wouldn't be that easy."

(Yeah, I didn't think it would be either. If we could find Commander Sith, we might actually get somewhere but how are you supposed to find a submarine in that bottomless sea?) Sissel stared at the floor glumly. (Those foreign people love making things difficult for everyone, don't they?)

"Don't look so down, Sissel. We're going to get to the bottom of this sooner or later." Jowd added milk and sugar to the coffee then took a sip. "Ah, that's nice. So much better than that instant stuff at the police station. It's kind of unnerving knowing I might be the next target. I keep expecting some blue man with a gun to pop out of nowhere. Of course I'll be ready for it."

"It's kind of strange it hasn't happened yet," Sissel mused. "I wonder why it's taking so long? Surely they haven't gone after somebody else instead?"

The phone started ringing and a chill crept up the kitten's back. (Uh oh. It's bad news, isn't it?) Jowd went to pick up the phone and Sissel hopped into it. His worst fears were immediately confirmed by the sight of the blue man on the other end of the phone line. This was definitely not just a social call.

"Hello, this is Jowd speaking. Who is this?"

"How nice it is to be able to speak to you at last, Detective." Rengo leaned against the wall, smiling. "I saw you coming home on the camera I set up so I thought I would give you a call."

The frown lines on Jowd's forehead deepened and he gritted his teeth. "Who is this?"

"You don't know who I am so let's keep it that way. This is merely just business. Right now, I'm with your wife and daughter. You are lucky to have such a pretty wife."

The colour drained from Jowd's face as the awful truth hit him. "What do you want?" he shouted, the knuckles of his hand whitening as he gripped the receiver even tighter. "I'll give you whatever it is you want, just don't hurt them!"

Rengo laughed softly. "Oh no, you're quite mistaken, Detective. This is not a kidnapping for ransom. All I want is your presence at the place where I am right now. I will give you the directions and you simply have to turn up. That is all that is required."

"I don't understand. If that was all you wanted, then why did you have to go to so much trouble just to get me there? There was no need to kidnap my wife and daughter just for this!"

"You see, I have a job to do and when it comes to my work, I am very thorough. I trust that you won't do something stupid like contacting your colleagues, not with your loved ones' lives at stake. Oh, and one more thing, if you should have any friends with strange powers..."

"What?" Jowd choked out. His gaze dropped to Sissel's limp body and his eyes grew wide in realisation.

"It would be very ill advised to bring them along," Rengo added.

"What are you talking about? What strange powers?"

"Please don't try to play me for a fool, Detective. My boss himself has warned me of something out there with powers, something that cannot even be seen."

Jowd forced back the lump forming in his throat with a heavy swallow. "Your boss, eh? You're talking about Commander Sith, aren't you?"

Sissel noticed Rengo flinch at the mention of Sith's name. There was a long pause as the hitman struggled to compose himself. When he spoke again, there was a slight tremble in his voice.

"I cannot confirm or deny that. Honestly, I think this talk of strange powers is pretty crazy myself and I might have thought my boss has gone mad but it is odd how my fellow co-workers in the hitman division have disappeared. I could understand how the guy with failing eyesight screwed up, but the other one? He was very skilled at his work. So, what caused both of them to fail at the job? It must have been this thing with the mysterious powers, right?"

"I cannot confirm or deny that," Jowd shot back.

"Heh. Throwing my own words back at me, are you? Well then, just know this. If I see anything strange happening over here, I will kill either your wife or daughter on the spot. You are going to come here by yourself without any company or help and we're going to have a nice long chat, Detective Jowd. Now, for the directions."

Jowd listened carefully as the hitman told him how to get there. The connection was cut off with a loud click and he slammed the receiver down. "Son of a...! How could he involve Alma and Kamila? They have nothing to do with this!"

(I don't believe this.) Sissel was crestfallen. How could he have anticipated that something like this could happen? The last two hitmen had employed the same tactics and he had been foolish enough to assume the next one would also do so. (If only I had stayed at home. Maybe I could have saved them.)

This situation was looking much worse than the last two. It wasn't going to be as simple as replaying a death and saving somebody this time. Sissel wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do now. This hitman was actually prepared for him and he could actually end up putting them in more danger than they were already in. "What am I going to do? I just don't know. There has to be a way to save them! But what?"

"I take it you heard every word of that conversation, Sissel? I hope you haven't already gone over there," said Jowd. "Anyway, you heard what he said. You won't be able to use your powers. I'm going to have to deal with this myself."

Sissel returned to his body and stood up, looking at Detective Jowd with pleading eyes.

"I know you want to help but you'll have to leave it to me, alright?" Jowd patted his head. "You can go and watch if you want, but you can't do anything in front of him. Goodbye, Sissel." He left the kitchen and hurried out of the house.

"Detective Jowd is really going to go there by himself." Sissel hung his head sadly. "I can't just sit by and do nothing while the little lady and her mother are in danger. I wonder why the hitman went to the trouble of kidnapping them?" A horrifying thought suddenly occurred to him. "No... don't tell me he's planning to use them to get Detective Jowd to tell him about the powers of the dead. I have to tell Lynne about this right away!" (At this time of day, she must be at work. Hopefully she's at the police station.)

Sissel left the house and ran as fast as he could until he finally saw the police station in the distance. He dashed through the front doors, ignoring the exclamations of surprised police officers. Fortunately, nobody attempted to stop him though he did get a few shocked looks. Sissel caught sight of Lynne sitting at her desk, looking over some papers, and sprang into her lap.

Lynne let out a shriek and sat back in her chair, staring at the kitten in wide eyed alarm. "Sissel, don't do that!" she yelled in his face. "You scared me!"

"But this is an emergency!" Sissel protested. "I had to come over here. Something really bad is happening."

Lynne sensed the urgency in his voice and frowned in concern. "What happened now?" She covered her mouth. "Don't tell me it's those blue people again."

"Yes, and they went after Detective Jowd just as we thought would happen."

Lynne's expression turned blank. "Okay, so did you bring him back to life then?"

"But that's not what happened! The little lady and her mother, they were taken by a hitman and he said Detective Jowd had to..."

"Hold on, Sissel. I can't keep up when you're talking in such a rush. Just try to calm down and start again from the beginning so I can understand you."

"Okay. So, Detective Jowd got a call from some man that I didn't recognise but he was definitely one of Commander Sith's men. I certainly never did see him in the other timeline. He said that he had kidnapped Alma and Kamila."

"Oh no. Poor Kamila." Lynne's face fell. "I can't believe she got kidnapped again. This is terrible. How did that happen? Did he just go into the house and grab them?"

"I don't know what happened," Sissel admitted shamefully. "I was out at the time. If only I hadn't gone out to play. I should have been watching over them but I didn't think the hitman was going to turn up when Jowd was at work." (I feel like this is all my fault.)

"How could you possibly have known they would be kidnapped? The last two hitmen just went with the 'walk into target's home, ask questions then shoot' strategy. It was unpredictable that the third hitman would have done things differently. It wasn't your fault."

"But, still... I was supposed to protect them. Anyway, he said Detective Jowd had to come to where he was. He also said if he saw my powers being used, he would kill them right away." Sissel lowered his gaze. "I can't just rush in there and use my ghost tricks when he's ready for me. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Detective Jowd's gone off all by himself and I'm pretty sure the kidnapper is planning to use the hostages to make him talk about what happened in the park. I had to come and tell you, Lynne."

"How could he do something so cruel? Using Detective Jowd's family like that, it's just awful!" Lynne clenched her teeth. "We can't let him get away with doing something like this."

"Have you got any ideas? The hitman told Detective Jowd not to call the police so maybe that's not a good idea."

"Of course he would say that!" Lynne exclaimed. "We do have trained officers who know how to deal with hostage situations. I'm going to tell Inspector Cabanela what's going on. We're not going to leave Detective Jowd hanging high and dry."

Lynne got up from her seat, holding Sissel in her arms, and hurried to the Special Investigation Unit department. Inspector Cabanela was in his office. He looked up as Lynne burst in and smiled.

"Hello, baby. How niiice of you to come for a visit. There's nothing like seeing your pretty face when I'm drowning in paperwork."

"It's those foreigners." Lynne approached the desk. "They turned up again."

"Whaaat?" The smile quickly disappeared from Cabanela's face and he stood up. "What did they do this time? You're okay, aren't you?"

"Yeah. As we thought, Detective Jowd was their next target but they didn't simply kill him like the other hitmen did to me and that man. They took his wife and daughter hostage."

"They did what?" Cabanela gasped out. "They actually kidnapped his family? Where is Jowd right now?"

"He's gone over there on the kidnapper's orders. I'm sure that the hitman is going to kill them all when he's done." Lynne chewed her bottom lip fearfully. "There has to be something that we can do to help them."

"Right, we can't simply ignore this. You did the right thing in telling me. So, do you know where he's holding them?"

"Huh? Oh, right." Lynne looked at Sissel. "Do you know?"

"He told Detective Jowd to go to some old warehouse north of town, second turn at the left."

Lynne relayed the directions to Cabanela. "If you're going out there, can I come with you? I'm really worried about them."

"Sure. Just let me get a team together and we'll work out how we're going to deal with this situation first."

"Lynne, I'm going through the phone line to that warehouse. It might be worth taking a look. Who knows, maybe there will be something that I can do."

"Okay. Good luck with that and be careful."

Sissel jumped over to the phone on Cabanela's desk and travelled through the line. He arrived at the warehouse and saw the hitman sitting on top of a crate, whistling a tune to himself. Alma and Kamila were there too, sitting down with their arms securely tied to the back of the chairs they were on.

"Mom, is Dad coming to save us?" Kamila asked, fixing her tearful gaze on her mother.

"I'm sure he will save us," Alma replied in a shaky voice. "Don't worry, Kamila. Your father is such a good detective."

"Heh." Rengo ceased his whistling, looking at his hostages with an amused smile on his face. "You have a lot of faith in your husband. He is on his way here right now but don't be so sure he'll be able to save you. I've already planned this out and I don't intend to fail at the job."

"Why are you doing this?" Alma asked. "If you wanted a hostage, you could simply have taken me. You didn't have to drag my daughter into this. She's only a child."

"Oh, I think that the more hostages I have, the easier it will be to get what I want out of him." Rengo's smile widened into a grin, showing his teeth. "With two loved ones in danger, the Detective will be spilling the beans much more quickly."

(Wow, this guy is a real creep,) thought Sissel. (It's unfortunate that he's doing things differently to Tengo and Jeego, and his boss had to go and warn him of the powers of the dead, making things a lot harder for me. Thanks a lot, Commander Sith.) He looked around the warehouse carefully, taking in the various details. There was a lot of junk all over the place and he wondered if he could use any of it to his advantage.

"I wonder what Detective Jowd is going to do in the face of this situation? His family is in danger and the hitman is obviously going to use them to try and force him to confess about the powers of the dead but the detective knows how dangerous it would be for Commander Sith to learn about Temsik. Besides, it's doubtful that the hitman is going to let anyone here live even if Detective Jowd tells him everything. I just hope the police can get here and do something before it's too late!"

Sissel stayed there in the phone, watching over the harrowing scene before him for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he saw Detective Jowd coming through the open door.

"At last you're here." Rengo stood up and pulled a pistol from the inside of his jacket, aiming it squarely at the detective. Kamila let out a squeak of fear, horrified by the sight of a firearm being pointed at her father. Jowd quickly put his arms up.

"I'm just going to check you for weapons to make sure you aren't carrying any," the hitman explained as he walked over to Jowd. "I don't want you pulling a fast one on me." He patted the detective's body in various places until he was satisfied. "Okay, very good. Now sit down in that chair over there."

Jowd walked over to the empty chair facing his wife and daughter and sat down. "Are you two okay?" he asked, looking over them. They didn't appear to have any injuries which was a small relief.

"He hasn't hurt us." Alma's voice was weak with fear. Even her own husband was a hostage right now. She was starting to wonder if there was any hope for them at all.

"Aren't you going to save us, Dad?" asked Kamila.

Jowd hung his head, unable to look into her eyes. He didn't want to see the disappointment on her face when she realised it was just as hopeless for him as it was for them. He had figured the hitman would check him for weapons and hadn't bothered to bring any. Even if he tried to fight the hitman off and save his family, he would probably just end up getting shot. There hardly seemed to be any point in increasing Sissel's workload right now. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Dad..." Kamila struggled to hold back the tears threatening to spill over. She had sworn she was going to be a brave girl from now on, especially when he had given her that toy badge as a reward. She couldn't start crying like this now. It wasn't going to help anybody.

Rengo picked up some rope and used it to tie Jowd's arms to the back of the chair. His hooded eyes gleamed in excitement. "Now it's time for us to begin."

"Now what's going to happen?" Sissel wondered out loud. He had no idea what was going to happen next, a fact that left him filled with dread. There was a chance that things could end up going horribly wrong.

"Why are you doing this?" Jowd asked as the hitman walked away from his chair. "Did you want some information? You didn't have to go to so much trouble just for that. Why didn't you just come up to me, wave a gun in my face and ask, huh?"

"What, like my comrades did? Look at where it got them. By the way, exactly where are they?" Rengo asked. "My boss hasn't heard a peep from them. I bet you know, don't you, Detective?"

"They are in a jail," Jowd replied. "That's where people usually go when they are caught committing crimes, you know."

"I won't be suffering the same fate as them. Besides, I think my way just might be more effective in getting information out of you. The fear of death? For some people, that's probably nothing. Many people would rather die than tell an important secret."

"Are you saying I have a secret that's worth dying for?" Jowd raised an eyebrow. "I don't know about that."

"Really? We'll see, I suppose. But what if that person was faced with seeing a loved one being hurt before their eyes? Or maybe even two loved ones?"

"What?" Alma twisted around in the chair, shooting him a lethal glare. "You had better not be thinking about laying a hand on our daughter!"

"I will hurt anybody if I have to," Rengo said in a cold voice, "even if it's a child. As a hitman, I have no need for morals."

"Ye gods," Jowd breathed out. His face had managed to turn even paler at the thought of Kamila suffering pain. "How do you manage to sleep at night? Look, there's no need to hurt either of them. Please, just let them go."

"I can't do that. Now then, let me tell you something. Ten years ago, there was a strange incident at Temsik Park. You yourself was there in that park on that day. My boss wants to know the secrets behind that incident." Rengo raised his pistol, examining it. "Are you going to tell me or not?"

"I don't know anything," Jowd stated, his eyes narrowing. "Why do you think I would? Your boss only seems to think I do just because I was there."

"Is that so, Detective Jowd? Too bad that I don't believe you. I want some results and I'm going to get them." Rengo suddenly pushed the gun's muzzle against Alma's head, causing her to freeze with a horrified look on her face. Kamila shrieked.

"No!" Jowd shouted, struggling momentarily against the ropes. He wanted to break free and knock that gun away from his wife's head.

Sissel tensed, preparing himself for what might happen next. If she died, he would have to possess her corpse and rewind time. Even if using his powers around that hitman was a risk, he wasn't going to let any of them die.

"Wouldn't it just be awful?" Rengo looked at Kamila, taking in the sight of her wide eyes and shivering body. "Just think how this little girl would feel if she saw her mother die right in front of her."

Kamila jolted and her body went rigid. It felt as if ice cold water was suddenly flowing through her veins, chilling her to the very core. An image took form in her mind - her mother, lying face down on the floor, a crimson puddle slowly spreading out from her head.

"No!" Kamila wailed, squeezing her eyes shut. Her trembling became even more violent and tears started to rain down her cheeks. "Mom! Mom !" Something terrifying was stirring inside her, a memory threatening to push its way to the surface. "No..." The young girl shook her head furiously, struggling to push it back down. She didn't want to remember. Whatever it was, it was too scary to even look at.

"Kamila!" Jowd shouted, lurching forward and causing the chair to jump in place. "Don't listen to him!"

"Why did that kidnapper have to say that about her mother dying right in front of her?" Sissel said furiously. (She can't remember it! Please, Kamila, don't remember. She's too young to have to recall all that pain.)

"Relax, kid, I'm not going to do that. She would die too quickly if I shot her in the head anyway," Rengo said, putting away the gun. "I prefer to make my victims suffer slowly. It's much better than just killing them right away."

"Kamila? Are you okay?" Alma asked. Seeing her daughter crying filled her with fury. She would have torn that man's head from his shoulders in an instant if she could.

Kamila blinked away the tears and her rapid breathing slowed down to an even pace as she calmed down. "I tried not to cry," she said thickly, raising her head. "I really did. I wanted to show you how brave I was."

"It's alright. You're allowed to cry. You're still a very brave girl," said Jowd. He quietly exhaled in relief. For a moment there, it had looked like Kamila was going to remember something. Not that it was going to matter much if they all died anyway. The detective wondered if they were really going to be getting out of this alive.

Kamila looked up at the face of her mother. Why had she seen her lying dead in her mind? That image was so familiar and yet it couldn't have been real. Her mother was sitting next to her, well and alive. She looked down at her lap, her forehead furrowing in confusion.

"Now that we're done with that little bit of drama, shall we start?" Rengo smiled menacingly.

x-o-x-o-x

Lynne and Cabanela stood atop the slope that surrounded the warehouse, gazing at the building. Other members of police were present, quietly discussing the next step that would be taken.

"I suuure wish we could just burst in and take that hitman down," Cabanela said heavily. "Not that it would be very sensible. We might just end up getting the hostages killed."

"Kamila," Lynne whispered, putting her hands to her chest and clenching them tightly. Like Cabanela, she wished she could do something to save them. "Why does it seem like she always has to suffer? It just isn't fair. The poor girl has never done anything wrong. I want to be able to help her."

"It's alright. The police are going to save them." Cabanela laid a hand on her shoulder. "Besides, you already helped by telling me, right? Though we can't do anything about the trauma it will cause poor little Kamila."

"In the other timeline, we were in such a hopeless situation, trapped on a sinking submarine. I swore I was going to save Kamila, no matter what, but it looked like all hope was lost for us for a little while." Lynne swallowed thickly. "I felt so bad, thinking I had failed her. I don't want that to happen again. She's... well, she was like a little sister to me."

"Can't that ghost cat do aaanything about what's going on in there?"

"The hitman is prepared for it so he can't." Lynne sighed. "I guess the Commander figured out why his hitmen weren't succeeding at the job. I wonder what he's going to do when this guy fails too?"

"I suppose he'll bring out the biiig guns." Cabanela put his hands on his hips. "And we'll be waiting for him." He glanced at Lynne. "Things are going to work out just fine, I promise you, so try and smiiile a bit, alright?"

"Right, I'm sure they are going to be saved. I'm just worried about what it will do to Kamila." Lynne smiled weakly, looking toward the warehouse. She closed her eyes and silently prayed to the gods.

x-o-x-o-x

"Now, what shall I do first? There are so many possibilities, it makes my blood tingle." Rengo ran a tongue over his lips. "I'm especially looking forward to having a little fun with your wife, Detective, but we'll save that for later."

"You...!" Jowd bit off the curse word that threatened to spill from his lips. He couldn't very well use foul language in front of his young daughter.

"How does it feel to be sitting there helpless while your family is in danger, knowing that you can't save them? It's only get worse when you're seeing them screaming in pain and begging for me to stop. I won't stop though. I don't even know the meaning of the word mercy." Rengo approached Kamila's chair. "Shall I start with the little girl here?"

Kamila screwed her eyes shut and tensed, a tremor running through her body.

"Please. If you have to hurt somebody, why don't you just torture me instead?" Jowd asked. "Let them go!"

"No. I want you to watch your loved ones suffer. You'll be singing like a canary when I'm done." Rengo reached into his jacket and pulled out a switchblade. His thumb pushed down on the switch, forcing out the sharp blade hidden within. With his other hand, he pushed up Kamila's sleeve, exposing her arm. "This is going to hurt, I'm afraid." Rengo wrapped his hand around the hilt of the switchblade and lowered it.

Kamila was staring at the blade, her eyes growing wide in terror. As the blade came dangerously close to her skin, she whimpered.

"No!" Before Sissel really knew what he was doing, he had jumped across the room into the weapon and pulled the blade back inside it. "I won't let you hurt her!"

A heavy silence followed as Rengo stared at the switchblade in disbelief. Alma and Kamila appeared to be confused by what had just happened. Jowd hung his head, letting out a quiet groan.

(Uh oh.) The realisation of what he had just done struck Sissel with all the weight of a sledgehammer. (I went and used my powers right in front of him. All I could think about was saving the little lady. That wasn't very smart.) He became aware of someone laughing. (It's that hitman! Why is he laughing?)

"I wasn't really sure if these strange powers existed or not but I guess they do. I saw it happen right before my eyes." Rengo turned around, fixing Jowd with an accusing stare. "I told you not to bring along any friends with strange powers, didn't I?"

Jowd didn't bother to say anything. Nothing he could possibly say would improve this situation.

"So, Detective, this means that the powers exist and you do know about them. After all, you don't seem very surprised by what just happened." Rengo threw aside the switchblade and it clattered noisily onto the floor. "Since we have company, they ought to at least introduce themselves to me. Why don't you speak up?"

(Even if I speak, it's not like you can hear me.)

"Hmph, you're not very talkative. So you're going to try and save them by putting a stop to my actions? How amusing. In that case, I accept your challenge. Go ahead, just try and stop me!"

"Easy enough for you to say." (The things I can do are actually pretty limited. If he'd just used a regular knife, I wouldn't have been able to do anything. This guy has to be dealt with once and for all, but how?)

Rengo walked over to a row of shelves on the wall, looking over the various tools that had been laid out. He picked up a saw and examined it. "This should do." The hitman turned around and approached the chairs, briefly stopping. The saw's blade glinted in the patch of sunlight shining down on him. "Well then, let's see what else you can do."

A loud bang penetrated the silence following his words. Rengo slowly looked down at the bloodstain blossoming on his shirt, his mouth hanging open in shock. He toppled over onto the floor where he lay still. Sissel jumped into the Ghost World, seeing that the hitman's body had now become a corpse.

"Is he dead?" Alma asked nervously.

"I think so." Jowd sighed in relief. "Thank goodness that's over. I wonder where that shot came from though."

Kamila tore her eyes away from the hitman's corpse. The sound of a gunshot and the person falling over dead felt so oddly familiar somehow, like she had seen it happen before her own eyes before. Kamila wondered if it had been her mother, but even then it didn't make sense. Her mother was alive. Why would she remember something that hadn't happened?

The police came running into the warehouse a moment later. Jowd and his family were freed from the chairs. Kamila ran into her mother's arms and they hugged each other tightly.

"Is everyone oookay?" Cabanela sauntered up to them. "Nobody was hurt, I hope."

"Cabanela! How did you know?" Jowd asked.

"Sissel told me what was going on so I went to Inspector Cabanela and told him." Lynne came walking over. "We couldn't very well leave you at the mercy of that horrible hitman, could we?"

Jowd gave them a grateful smile. "Thank you. I really didn't know what I was going to do." He went to embrace his family. "I'm so glad you're both safe."

Lynne reached into a bag she had on her shoulder, pulling out Sissel's body. "Sissel, are you there?" Sissel stirred in her arms, mewing. "Well, it looks like everything worked out. I'm so glad."

"Yeah, barely. That hitman was about to start hurting them."

Lynne glanced at Rengo's body, noticing the saw in his hand, and winced. "Ouch. That would have been really bad."

"It looks like he's dead." Cabanela was looking at the body. "Oh well, we've still got two leeeads. It's just a matter of getting them to talk somehow."

"Sissel." Jowd laid a hand on the kitten's head. "Thank you for that. Even though you weren't supposed to use your powers, I was glad you stopped him from hurting Kamila."

"Hm?" Kamila had noticed the kitten and come over. "You brought Sissel over?"

"Yeah. Do you want to hold him?" Lynne held Sissel out to Kamila, who took him in her arms and hugged him tightly.

"I wonder what that Commander Sith is going to do next?" Cabanela turned around, narrowing his eyes. "Whatever he tries next, we will be ready for it. It's too bad none of us could predict this sudden change in tactics, but at least things worked out in the end."

"We're going to catch him and take him down for sure." Lynne clenched her fists. "He's not going to be allowed to hurt any more people!"

"I'm looking forward to the day I get to stand in front of that eyebrowed maniac and give him a good punch to the face," Jowd said.

"I would certainly like to see that." Lynne smirked, her eyes gleaming.

Cabanela raised an eyebrow then shook his head. "Really, Lynne, you shouldn't be encouraging violence. I'd suggest we throw him in one of the dirtiest prisons with the worst food, but I think even thaaat would be too good for him."

"Is this about some case you're working on?" Alma asked. "Is that why Kamila and I were kidnapped?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so. I'm so sorry that you and Kamila had to be involved in this." Jowd put an arm around her, holding her close. "I won't let that happen again. I swear. Well then, let's be getting back home now."

x-o-x-o-x

Sissel lay curled up on the sofa, watching Kamila. She had been staring into space for a while with a puzzled frown etched on her forehead. (I wonder what the little lady is thinking about? It looks like something is troubling her. Maybe it's just the trauma from what happened to her today.)

The front door opened and shut. Sissel heard a bark. (That must be Missile. I guess Lynne brought him over.)

Missile came running into the living room, with Lynne following behind him. The Pomeranian ran over to Kamila and put his paws on the chair.

"Missile!" Kamila leaned down to hug him and received several rapid licks to the face. She sat back, wiping her face, then started stroking him. As she gazed into his eyes, her smile started fading and the frown returned. "Missile?" she muttered.

"How are you feeling?" Lynne sat down on the sofa. "I'm glad you weren't hurt. I was really worried."

Kamila was silent for a moment. "Lynne?"

"Yes?"

"Do you... have memories of something that didn't happen?" Kamila mumbled.

Lynne's mouth formed an 'O' in her surprise. "Kamila, you're really remembering things?"

"I can't remember some details too well. I think my mom died but I don't remember how and my dad went away somewhere. I remember living with you and Missile. You were like a big sister to me."

"You really don't remember what happened to your mom and dad?"

Kamila shook her head. "I think the memories are there, locked away in a dark and scary place. I don't want to look in there. That nasty man who kidnapped me, he was threatening my mom. I actually saw her... dead."

"Oh, Kamila." Lynne got up and went to hug her. "You poor thing. Don't try to remember any more, alright? You might end up remembering something you don't want to."

"But, you know, I'm glad."

"Huh?"

"I have the memories of you and Missile back." Kamila wrapped her arms around Lynne's waist. "They are very precious memories."

"I see." Lynne smiled. "We can be like sisters again."

"Yeah. I'd like that." Kamila looked up, returning the smile.

"Phew. It looks like things turned out better than I could have hoped," Sissel said, feeling immense relief. "I was so afraid she was going to remember everything."

"Hey, Sissel, what happened?" Missile asked. "It sounds like Miss Kamila was in trouble again."

"Yeah, she was kidnapped but fortunately things managed to work out."

"Oh, poor Miss Kamila! It was those foreigners again, wasn't it?"

"That's right. They are being a real pain in the butt," Lynne cut in, looking furious. "I can't wait until we deal with them once and for all!"

"I wish I could be of some help," Missile said. "Unfortunately, I can't do much without ghost tricks."

"Don't worry, Missile, we can handle it ourselves," said Sissel. "You can just be there for the little lady. That's enough."

"Okay, I'll do that!"

"We were on a submarine, weren't we?" Kamila asked. "That's the last thing I remember about that time. Then Sissy and Missile rode away on that torpedo. Did they make this happen?"

"Yeah, they went back in the past and fixed things." Lynne sat down again. "It's all thanks to them."

Kamila got up and walked over to the sofa, picking Sissel up and hugging him tightly. "Sissy, Missile, you two brought my mother back to me." She reached down, patting Missile's head. "Thank you both so much."

(The little lady looks so happy, even after everything that happened today. I wish we could all be happy like her, but with all this trouble... will the time come when everyone can live out their days trouble free? No matter what, I'm going to see to it that it does.)


	8. Chapter 8

It was early in the morning and already there were visitors. Sissel could tell from the look on Cabanela's face that this was not just a personal visit. He had called Jowd earlier to tell him he was coming over and even Lynne had come along to hear whatever it was Cabanela had to tell them. The three of them were now sitting around the table.

"You really don't look so good, Cabanela," Jowd commented. The Inspector's face was pale and drawn. "What happened?"

"Is it something to do with the organization?" Lynne looked alarmed. "Don't tell me that those hitmen escaped from jail."

"Oh no, it's much worse than that. They were in a high seeecurity prison after all." Cabanela rested his forehead in one hand. "How could something like this have happened? I just don't believe it."

Jowd and Lynne remained silent, waiting for Cabanela to tell them what exactly the matter was.

Cabanela sighed heavily. "The prisoners both committed suicide last night."

"What?" Lynne exclaimed. "Seriously?"

"How could that happen?" Jowd asked. "Shouldn't somebody have been watching them?"

"They weren't on suicide watch. I don't think anybody was expecting them to take their own lives," Cabanela said glumly. "I only learned the details a short while ago. It seems one of them bit his own tongue off. And the other one, well, he's not exactly dead yet."

"Not exactly dead yet?" Jowd repeated in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"He tried to hang himself. Now he's in a coma and even if he recovers, he might have suffered severe brain damage. He might not even remember who he is if he wakes up." Cabanela slammed a fist on the table. "We've just managed to lose both our only leads. Why did this have to happen?"

"Ugh. This is awful." Lynne put her face in her hands. "Why did they go and take their own lives like that?"

"Maybe they were so loyal to their boss they didn't want to risk telling the police anything. Who really knows what they were thinking?" Jowd said.

"And that was worth throwing their lives away?" Lynne threw her hands down. "How could they do that just to protect their own boss?" She looked down, seeing Sissel sitting next to her and picked him up. "I don't suppose Sissel could help us out?"

"Wait, what?" Sissel asked. "Are you suggesting I save their lives?"

"It would be useless in the case of the comatose prisoner, you know," Jowd pointed out. "He's only able to go back four minutes before death after all. If the prisoner did end up dying, Sissel would just see him lying in a hospital bed for four minutes."

"Yeah, that's true." Lynne frowned. "And the case of the prisoner who killed himself, he would have been choking to death on his own blood for a while. Even if there was something Sissel could do, like alerting the guards, I suppose, it would be difficult to stop him biting off his tongue."

"For that matter, the guards wouldn't know what was going on until it actually happened. Once he'd done that, it would be all over." Jowd rubbed his forehead. "I don't think even Sissel is going to be able to change the situation."

"I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do but I suppose not," Sissel said regretfully. "I would help out if I could, even if it meant saving a hitman's life."

"It's okay." Lynne gently rubbed his head. "This is just such a shock. I thought we'd end up getting the information we needed out of those hitmen sooner or later, but it looks like that's not going to happen. If only there was an easy way to find a submarine. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack."

"I guess Commander Sith will send more people to us. He's not going to give up until he's got what he wants." Jowd folded his arms and sat back. "I bet he's getting frustrated with all his hitmen failing at the job."

"It would be nice if he sent someone willing to talk for a chaange who doesn't throw their life away at the earliest opportunity. I wonder if he will pick a new target or just change tactics again?"

"Well, I think he's run out of targets. It's unlikely he's going to go after the cat, you know," Lynne said thoughtfully. "I guess he'll just try something different. We're going to have to be on our guard."

"Did that hitman from yesterday have anything useful on him?" Jowd asked. "The other two hitmen didn't have anything, did they?"

"Just the clothes on their back and their weapons. The hiiitman from yesterday did have a device broadcasting footage of your house but that was about it. No data, identification, anything like that. I guess he brought it just to watch your house with. We did find the hidden camera and get rid of it, by the way."

"So no clues there then, huh?" Lynne spoke in a despairing tone, her shoulders sagging. "I sure wish we could find a big lead right about now."

(Everyone looks so down. I really wish I could do something about it but even my ghost tricks are useless at the moment. Things just seem to be getting worse and worse.) Sissel dropped down from Lynne's lap and walked away.

"Sissel?" Lynne looked at him in concern. "Hey, you can't get depressed. That won't help matters."

"Sorry. I just wish things could actually go right for us."

"Yeah, I know how you feel." Lynne turned her attention back to Jowd and Cabanela. "We do have that one lead actually, but who knows if that will get us anywhere?"

"That suspicious guy you met in the paaark? We would need something on him first," said Cabanela. "I tried looking him up in the database but it seems he has a clean record."

"His name was Cotts, right?" Jowd recalled. "Why did he even tell you his name? That's awfully bold of him if he is involved in all this."

"Maybe it's his way of saying he's not afraaaid of us." Cabanela's eyes narrowed to slits. "Just like that organization, thinking they can get away with anything."

"I guess I'll go out for a bit." Sissel left through the catflap and started walking away from the house with his head hung low. (This is just so unbelievable. The Special Investigation Unit ended up losing their only leads and they can't even arrest the one other possible lead because he hasn't done anything yet. Everything seems to be going wrong and I can't do much about it. That organization should never have showed their faces.)

"Sissel."

Sissel came to a sudden stop, startled by the mention of his name. He glanced up to see who it was. "Yomiel! Why are you here?"

"It's been a while since we last saw each other and I wanted to see you again. I was wondering how things might be going too. Those foreigners must have showed up again, right?"

Sissel flattened his ears. "They sure did. I'm getting really sick of those guys. And we got more bad news this morning. It's awful."

Yomiel knelt down and picked him up, stroking his fur. "It sounds like you're having it pretty rough. Why don't we go for a walk? You can fill me in on the details."

"A lot went on since I saved you from the first hitman. They sent another one after Lynne but I was able to save her too, of course. Then a third hitman came for Detective Jowd yesterday except this time he kidnapped Jowd's family. He was going to torture them to make Jowd confess. Not only that, he was prepared for me to use my powers."

"I suppose Commander Sith was bound to figure out why his hitmen kept messing up. At least he hasn't found out where the powers come from yet, right?"

"Hopefully not. The police came and killed the hitman, saving everyone. I felt so useless, sitting there and watching because I couldn't do anything. Except I did end up using my power right in front of the hitman. I couldn't help it." Sissel buried his face in the crook of Yomiel's arm. "I don't want to see anyone getting hurt, let alone dying. I never want to go through an experience like yesterday ever again."

"You've been through a lot already, haven't you?" Yomiel looked sympathetic. "Too bad it isn't over yet. Commander Sith won't give up so easily. He'll just keep trying again and again."

"I wish I could just go back to living out the days free of trouble, but I can't rest. Not until all this is over. As long as the people I care about are in danger, there's no way I can just sit back and do nothing."

Yomiel had wandered into a small park. He sat down on a bench, putting Sissel on his lap. "After I got out of jail, I thought I would finally get to live with my fiancée in peace, but then those foreigners showed up. Hopefully, we'll get what we want some day." He petted Sissel's head, smiling at him. "Just hang in there. I know you'll get somewhere sooner or later."

"You might be in danger again, you know. Commander Sith might just send even more hitmen. Maybe he'll even do something different because sending hitmen isn't working out for him."

"Well, if I die again, you'll just have to come and save my life." Yomiel sat back against the bench. "It's never a bother for you, right? Having to save lives over and over?"

"Not really. But what if I'm ever faced with a situation where saving someone's life is impossible?"

Yomiel gave him a serious look. "Well, let's hope that never comes to pass. You would just have to accept it, no matter how hard it is. Sometimes people are just fated to die, no matter what. You've done so much, Sissel, but you might not always be able to save everyone."

"I understand." Sissel rolled over onto his back. "I can't even do anything about those two hitmen. Not that I care about their lives, but everyone seems pretty upset about what happened. If I could help them out... but I can't."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, right. Those two hitmen who went after you and Lynne tried to take their lives and one of them succeeded. The other one is in a coma with possible brain damage. They were the Special Investigation Unit's only leads."

"That's pretty bad." Yomiel frowned. He rubbed Sissel's belly. "For a cat, you sure do have a lot of troubles on your mind, don't you?"

"To think I used to be perfectly content just sleeping, eating and chasing birds, while not caring much about what was going on around me. I can still chase birds but I can't kill them. They would get ghost tricks. Hmm, that wouldn't be so bad. I could slaughter every rat and bird in my path and get an army of ghosts to help me."

"I don't think they would want to help you after you killed them," Yomiel said, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.

"Eh, I wasn't being serious." Sissel flopped over, resting on his side. "Do you wish we were still living together, Yomiel?"

"I would be lying if I said I didn't wish that sometimes, but our fates changed and we just have to deal with it. Anyway, you're always welcome at my house. Just be careful about using your ghost tricks if you're there. I don't want my fiancée thinking the place is haunted."

"Do you ever plan on telling her about the powers of the dead?"

Yomiel shook his head. "There's no need for her to know. Besides, it seems like just knowing about the powers of the dead is dangerous, especially when that organization is involved. I wouldn't want her to be hurt."

"Even people who don't know about the powers of the dead are being put in danger. It's unfair, isn't it?" Sissel sat up, resting his paws on Yomiel's chest. "After everything you went through, I hope you and your fiancée are going to be able to live together peacefully from now on. Once we've dealt with those foreigners anyway."

"Yeah, I hope so too. We're planning to have our wedding next year, maybe in the spring." Yomiel stroked Sissel's soft fur, smiling. "I'll be sure to invite you to the wedding. Since you're my old friend, I won't leave you out of one of the most important events of my new life."

"Wedding?" (I only have a vague idea of what that is. Something like a party where a lot of people get together.)

"You don't have to understand it. As long as you're there, it's good enough. Now if only I could actually get a job. I haven't found anybody willing to give me an interview yet."

"Just because you were jailed? It's pretty unfair. Sure, you committed a crime, but that inspector and detective did practically drive you to it."

"I made a terrible mistake and I have to deal with it. That's just life, I'm afraid," Yomiel said. "Well, I enjoyed our little chat but I should be getting back home soon. Before that, I would like to go to the detective's house and talk with him about something."

"I see." As Yomiel stood up, holding Sissel, the kitten caught sight of somebody disappearing behind a tree. He only saw a leg and what appeared to be a flapping coat. "Huh?" (Was somebody watching us just now?)

"Whoever it was, I hope it wasn't a hitman."

"I doubt it. They would have tried to kill you by now. It looks like they are gone now anyway so I guess it was just some stranger passing by."

Yomiel walked back to Jowd's house and knocked on the front door. Jowd came to answer the door.

"Oh, it's you," said the detective. "I see you brought Sissel back."

"I was coming to see him and just happened to bump into him outside," Yomiel replied. "He's been filling me in on what's going on. Seems you haven't been having much luck so far."

"No, we really haven't." Jowd sighed. "Well, thanks for going to the trouble of bringing him back here anyway."

"Actually, I wanted to talk about the case if that's okay. I am involved in this thing too after all."

"Sure, why not. Come on in then."

Yomiel stepped into the house. It was incredibly uncomfortable walking into the place where he had murdered a little girl's mother right in front of her. There were still painful reminders of it too, like the doll sitting against the wall and the balance toy. He looked away, focusing his attention on the table where Lynne and Cabanela sat.

"Well, look whooo it is. Fancy seeing you here."

"Did Sissel invite you to come and join our pity party?" Lynne asked.

(Pity party? What is she talking about?)

"Alright, Lynne, our morales aren't that low yet. At least I hope yours aren't," Jowd said. "Yomiel just came to talk about the case with us."

"Ah, did he? Well, he's a target of the bad guys too so I suppose he caaan join in. I have no problems with it."

"Thank you." Yomiel sat down in the chair that was offered to him. "I've heard from Sissel about what's been going on, the other hitmen and what happened to the ones you had in custody."

"It was an unfortunate development," Jowd said heavily.

"Now that three hitmen have failed in succession, I wonder what Commander Sith is planning next." Yomiel's brow furrowed with frown lines. "Sissel... I mean, my fiancée, and I aren't safe yet, are we?"

"We can arrange for police to watch your house," Cabanela suggested. "You two should be veeery careful. The last hitman went so far as to snatch poor little Kamila right off the street."

"That hitman was brutal. He was even willing to torture and kill a child just to get what he wanted," Lynne said faintly. "It sickens me to think what those people are capable of. They have to be stopped before more people suffer."

Yomiel shivered, disturbed by the thought of what could end up happening to his own loved one. He wouldn't ever want her to go through such pain and suffering. She was so delicate that he feared such an experience would break her completely. It had only taken his supposed death for her to take her own life. "The love of my life could be hurt just because I was in the park that day?" he spoke thickly. "It's not right. It isn't right that your family was involved in this either, Detective Jowd. Or Lynne for that matter. Were you really targeted just for being in the park?"

"That's right, even though I was only a child then. Your fiancée seemed like a really nice woman," Lynne said. "I hope she doesn't get any more trouble from those people."

"Yeah, she's wonderful." Yomiel smiled. "I really love her."

"Where was she in the other time?" Lynne asked.

Yomiel's smile disappeared and he dropped his gaze, looking down at Sissel sitting in his lap sadly.

"Er, Lynne, I think you shouldn't have asked that question," Jowd said.

"She wasn't around anymore," Yomiel spoke in a hushed voice. "I named Sissel in her memory."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up any bad memories for you."

"Are you two getting married soon?" Cabanela quickly tried to change the subject. "I bet you can't wait, huh? Especially since you've been waiting ten yeeears."

"It's more like twenty years for me really. We're hoping to marry in the spring. Sissel's already been invited." Yomiel lifted Sissel up, looking into his amber eyes. "I definitely want him to be there."

"This is the fiiirst I've heard of a cat attending a wedding." Cabanela raised an eyebrow in bemusement.

"Huh? Is Sissy going to a wedding?" Kamila had come into the room and overheard the last pieces of the conversation. She began staring at Yomiel with a confused expression.

"Why is she staring at me?" Yomiel asked Sissel through the Ghost World.

"Oh, er... that might be because I was wearing your face when I first met her. Kamila's remembered the other time too," Sissel replied. "No doubt she's wondering why a man with the face I was wearing is sitting in this very room."

"Huh? She remembers everything? Even about her mother dying?"

"Fortunately, she doesn't remember that part. She knows her mother died, but not how it happened. I don't think she remembers Jowd going to jail and facing execution very well either."

"I see. Must be some kind of self-defence mechanism, I suppose, shielding herself from the trauma she suffered by repressing the memories."

"Oh, Kamila. This man's getting married one day and he wants Sissel to go to his wedding," Lynne explained.

"Would it be alright with you if he came? I really would like him to be there," Yomiel said.

"Sure, that's fine," Kamila replied. "Do you like cats, mister?"

"Yes. I really do," Yomiel replied, setting Sissel down on his lap. "You've taken very good care of this little kitten, haven't you?"

"Uh huh." Kamila nodded, smiling brightly. She glanced at the others sitting at the table. "Are you talking about work stuff?"

"Yes, that's right," Jowd said.

"You're going to punish those blue bad guys, aren't you? I know you can do it."

"That's right, Kamila. The three of us make a great team, don't we?" Lynne glanced at Jowd and Cabanela, a grin spreading across her face. "We're definitely going to get them."

"I'll let you get back to your work then." Kamila turned around and left the room.

"She seems rather chipper for someone who went through a kidnapping incident just yesterday," Yomiel observed.

"My daughter is amazingly resilient. Saves me from having to pay for therapy."

"Aaanyway, was there anything else you wanted to ask us about?" Cabanela inquired.

"Well, I understand I'm still in danger and my fiancée too. We really can't predict what the commander will do next. It's just a matter of waiting now and seeing what happens next, right?"

"Yeah, that's about it," Jowd said. "Sissel will keep you informed if anything else crops up, I expect."

"Then I guess I'm done here. I should be getting back home now," Yomiel said, getting up and placing Sissel down on the floor. "Good luck with everything. I expect you need a lot of that right now." He knelt down and rubbed the kitten's head. "Come by whenever you like, okay? I could do with the company."

"Yeah, sorry I haven't been over much. I've been so busy with everything that's going on but I'll definitely come over soon." (And I hope it's not going to be because he dies.)

"Take caaare of yourself. I'll arrange for a police car to come by and watch your house later."

"Bye," Lynne and Jowd chorused.

Yomiel walked out of the house, setting off home. That meeting had been less awkward than he had thought it would be. He still felt awkward being around people he had previously wronged even if it was from a time that was lost to everyone. Little by little, it was getting easier and he imagined Sissel would be happy with that fact.

x-o-x-o-x

Yomiel approached the door of his house and was about to open it when he heard rapid footsteps coming up behind him. A hard object jabbed sharply into the small of his back before he was able to turn around and see who it was. Yomiel stiffened and his spine tingled with a nervous chill.

"Who are you?" Yomiel didn't dare to even look over his shoulder. He didn't fancy getting a shot through the abdomen. Getting shot by a bullet actually hurt a lot and Sissel couldn't save him if he bled to death. "Are you another one of Commander Sith's hitmen?"

"I know of him but I'm not a hitman. I'm just somebody who wants to have a talk with you."

The voice of the man standing behind him was not familiar. Beads of sweat started forming on Yomiel's forehead. He could feel his hot breath misting on the back of his neck. "A talk?" he repeated. "You're sticking a gun into my back just because you want to chat?"

"I have a feeling you wouldn't want to discuss the subject matter with me so I'm just using this as a little incentive. Now then, shall we go inside? It's quite nippy out here."

"And what if I don't let you in? Are you going to shoot me in broad daylight?"

The gun pressed harder into his back, causing Yomiel to wince. "Maybe."

It wasn't worth taking the risk of finding out if he was bluffing or not. The man might not be merciful enough to give him instant death. Yomiel tried to open the door and found that it was locked much to his relief. That meant Sissel had already gone out to work and she would be spared the terror of yet another armed man coming into the house.

"Hang on. I just need to unlock it," Yomiel muttered, reaching into his jacket pocket and taking out the key. He unlocked the door and walked in. The man followed him into the house and lowered the gun. "Do you want a cup of tea?" he asked, his voice laced with sarcasm.

"No. You are surprisingly witty for someone whose life might be in danger, aren't you?"

Yomiel turned around, getting a good look at the intruder. "You aren't one of the Commander's men," he stated.

"Really, what gave it away?" the man asked, smiling wryly. "I'm not even from their country, obviously. My name is Cotts. If you want to call me anything, that's what you can call me."

"Oh, is that so? I was just going to call you a complete douchebag."

Cotts narrowed his eyes and raised the gun, aiming it toward Yomiel's chest. "You are really starting to get on my nerves. Why don't we get down to talking before I end up filling you with bullets?"

"So you know Commander Sith? Are you the reason he's been sending people to get information?"

"That's right. Ten years ago in Temsik Park, I saw something very strange happen before my eyes. Ever since then, I've wanted to learn the truth and I thought they could help me out."

"Why would you even go to a man like Commander Sith? Do you have any idea what kind of person he really is?" Yomiel clenched his fists. Now that he was standing before the person responsible for contacting Sith and causing all this trouble, he wanted to punch him squarely in the face. Not that it would be sensible when the man was pointing a gun at him. Sissel wouldn't be impressed if he got himself killed and besides, Yomiel figured he deserved to have a little break for once.

"I thought he could be of some help but so far, he's been mostly useless. It looks like I have to take matters into my own hands. I've spent ten years thinking about this, trying to figure it out, and I'm not going to give up now." Cotts' mouth set in a thin line. "I will find out the truth, no matter what."

"So you've been unable to take your mind off what you saw? That doesn't excuse letting people be killed." Yomiel frowned. "You honestly have no idea what you're getting yourself into."

"No, I don't, do I? Now why don't we sit down somewhere and talk?"

"And if I refuse?"

Cotts glanced down at the gun he was still pointing at Yomiel's chest. "You don't seem to be afraid of the prospect of dying. Is there a reason why?"

Yomiel kept his mouth shut, just glaring at the other man.

"Let's talk about that woman who lives with you. She's your fiancée, right?"

"You leave her out of this!"

"Where was it she works? Oh yeah, at that hospital. Maybe I should drop in on her. What do you think?" Cotts smiled mockingly. He could see the fear on Yomiel's face now and enjoyed it.

"You lowlife," Yomiel hissed. There didn't seem to be any easy way out of this situation. He was just going to have to co-operate for the time being, it seemed. "Alright. You win." His shoulders slumped in defeat as he made his way to the living room where he sat on the sofa.

Cotts pulled up a chair and sat down, resting his gun on his knee with the barrel still pointed toward Yomiel. "Ten years ago, I saw something that would forever change my life. I imagine most people would say something foolish like it was a miracle or the power of the gods, but I don't believe in any of that."

"You're a realist, huh?" Yomiel said. "Why can't you just accept that something completely unexplainable happened?"

"There has to be an explanation and I won't rest until I've found it." Cotts fell quiet, studying Yomiel with an intent gaze. "Come to think of it, when that meteorite fragment fell, Mino was in its way. If Mino hadn't been in its way, that fragment might actually have struck you."

"Well, it's a good thing Mino was in the way then, wasn't it?" Yomiel folded his arms and leaned back. "Maybe the gods just wanted to save my life."

"Why would they want to save the life of a man who just took a little girl hostage?" Cotts sneered. "That's utter bullcrap. That's not the only odd thing either. That detective shot at you with his gun and yet... it didn't even kill you."

"Bullets aren't always fatal depending on where they hit the body," Yomiel pointed out, shrugging. It sounded to him like Cotts hadn't even noticed the bullet switching places with the baked potato, which wasn't surprising considering the speed it had been going at.

"Then you were impaled on a giant spike. That must have been pretty painful," Cotts commented. "Despite the immense pain you must have been in after being shot and then pierced through the back, you were somehow able to push yourself off and throw a little girl out of the way of that falling boulder."

"What can I say? I'm just made out of steel." Yomiel sure hoped he would be able to bluff his way out of this one. He wanted to avoid talking about the powers of the dead if he could help it.

"That day, someone or something, whatever it was, must have been trying to save your life. Do you really have no idea who or what it was?" Cotts asked. "I find that a little hard to believe."

"You're not going to get anywhere by asking me. I have no idea. A miracle happened that saved my life from a falling meteorite fragment. That's all."

"You seriously believe such a thing?" Cotts sniffed derisively. "I'm not so sure of that. How do you know about Commander Sith, anyway?"

"I don't believe that has anything to do with this subject."

"Alright, alright, keep your secrets if you want. There is something else I find quite strange." Cotts leaned forward. "This morning, I saw you outside with a little black kitten."

Yomiel gulped inwardly. He didn't want the man to start talking about Sissel. "So what if I was? I like cats. Is there a problem with that?"

"Then you took it to that detective's house and left without it. I'm going to assume the cat actually belongs to the detective. There was a kitten in the park ten years ago, wasn't there?"

Yomiel was growing even more tense listening to the man talk. His palms became clammy and he started to sweat.

"The little girl found the kitten unconscious in the grass and then the detective took it home. It was black, just like the one you were with."

"They are not the same!" Yomiel insisted in a strained voice. "It was a different kitten."

"That's what the lady detective, Lynne, said as well. Of course, it would be logical to assume they are different kittens, since the one from the park would be much bigger by now. Come to think of it, why was the kitten unconscious at that time? Maybe that meteorite fragment hit it?"

"That's insane! It would have been dead!" Yomiel gripped his fists tightly. This man in front of him was coming dangerously close to figuring out the truth. He couldn't allow that to happen, but how could he possibly stop it?

"And what were you even doing with a cat that wasn't yours anyway? It seemed like you two were close." Cotts smirked. "It looks like we were overlooking one important lead. The cat must be the key to all this."

"You're completely out of your mind!" Yomiel jumped to his feet. He was losing his temper but at the moment he didn't care. He didn't want anything to happen to Sissel. "It's just a cat!"

"Right. It's just a cat, so why are you getting all bent out of shape?" Cotts stood up as well. "It's not even your cat for that matter. Your behaviour tells me everything I ever needed to know. Well then, I've overstayed my welcome so I'll be leaving now." He backed out of the room, pointing the gun to ensure Yomiel didn't follow.

Yomiel waited for the sound of the front door opening and closing, then he slammed his fist against the wall. "Damn it!" He rested his forehead on the wall, breathing heavily. "Sissel. Gods... everything is just going from bad to worse." The blond man went to get the phone book, flicking through it until he had found Jowd's number. He picked up the phone and dialled the residence.

"Hello, this is Jowd speaking."

"It's Yomiel. This strange man came to my house asking me questions and he was even threatening me with a gun. He wasn't one of Commander Sith's men, but he was talking about the park."

"A strange man was asking you about... did he give you his name?"

"Yes, his name was Cotts."

"What?" Jowd's voice rose in alarm. "That man showed up again?"

"Do you know about him?"

"Lynne saw him in Temsik Park recently. He had witnessed what happened on that day ten years ago and was wondering about it," said Jowd. "We did think he was suspicious but since we didn't have anything on him yet, we couldn't do much about it. I suppose we could get him for illegal firearm possession now. Was he trying to get you to tell him about the powers of the dead?"

"He was just talking to me about that day, mostly going on about how Mino saved me from the fragment and how I could still move after being shot and getting pierced through the back. Of course I wasn't actually shot, but he didn't realise that Then he started talking about the kitten."

Jowd inhaled sharply. "That isn't good."

"Yeah, it really isn't. He refuses to believe that the kitten in the park and the kitten he's been seeing around lately aren't one and the same. Also, he seems to have the theory that the meteorite fragment hit Sissel." Yomiel shook his head wearily. "I was losing it when he was talking about Sissel. I probably just ended up giving it away."

"That's understandable. I know you care a lot about Sissel." There was a long pause before Jowd spoke again. "If he makes the connection to the Temsik meteorite, things will get even worse. We have to do something about it. I won't let them get their hands on Sissel or the meteorite."

"Do your best, Detective." Yomiel hung up. He sat down in a chair and held his head in his hands. The idea that anything should happen to Sissel was unbearable.

x-o-x-o-x

"What's going on?" Lynne asked after Jowd hung up the phone. "I heard you mention the meteorite and Sissel. Is something wrong?"

"It's that man, Cotts. He turned up at Yomiel's house, apparently waving a gun in his face and talking about the incident in the park."

Sissel left the phone and returned to his body. After hearing the entire conversation, he was fully aware of how much trouble he could be in. "Great. Just when I thought things couldn't get much worse." (I never considered the possibility that they could set their sights on me. After all, I'm just a cat.)

"He did whaaat?" Cabanela got up suddenly, his chair scraping back against the floor noisily. "I guess there's something we can get him for at last. You don't look so good though."

"He's positive Sissel is the same kitten he saw in the park and now believes that the meteorite fragment hit him. Unfortunately, he's right on both counts," said Jowd. "If Commander Sith learns that Temsik is involved, well, you know. Sissel could be in danger now."

"I tried telling him Sissel wasn't the same kitten." Lynne knelt down and picked Sissel up. "I guess he didn't believe me. We will protect you, Sissel. I won't let those foreigners get their dirty hands on you, I swear."

"Don't forget the meteorite. They can't get their dirty hands on that either."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I just don't want anything happening to you." Lynne stroked his head. "I doubt the commander is going to have second thoughts about picking on cute little kittens."

"Well then, let's head down to the precinct. I'll find out where that man lives and send some boooys to go and get him." Cabanela strutted toward the door. "No time to waste."

"I'll bring Sissel along. I don't think we should leave him alone in the house," said Lynne.

(I can only hope we will get somewhere,) Sissel thought as the trio headed out of the house. (Knowing that the foreigners might be out to get me soon isn't a pleasing thought in the least. I don't want my body to be taken away from me.)

x-o-x-o-x

"Wow. Temsik really was a pretty big thing ten years ago. There are so many articles about it." Lynne's eyes were lit up by the glare of the computer screen. She was sitting at her desk, reading whatever she could find online. "They are all fairly old articles though. After a while, everyone just lost interest in it and Temsik was forgotten about."

"Don't you have anything more useful to be doing than reading about Temsik?" Sissel asked.

"Inspector Cabanela's dealing with the arrest of that guy and Detective Jowd is off doing something else." Lynne leaned forward, studying the text displayed on the screen with avid interest. "Wow, people had all sorts of crazy theories about that meteorite. This one suggests it fell off a spaceship being flown by aliens. Who would even believe that?"

"Spaceship? Aliens?" Sissel tilted his head in confusion. "Wait, do people have ships in space?"

"Not actual spaceships, but they travel into space on rockets."

"Oh yeah, I know what a rocket is. I think I've heard the term 'alien' before but I don't really know what it is."

"Alien refers to something that is not of this world, such as other lifeforms that don't belong to this planet. Though nobody has managed to find any other planets with life on them yet, but there have been all kinds of conspiracies involving aliens." Lynne rested her face in her palm, thinking. "It sure would be interesting if Temsik was from another planet with life on it. There could be ghosts with powers of the dead everywhere. I think it would be a bit of a scary planet though."

"Lifeforms from another planet, not that any such planet has been discovered yet. That would be interesting if Temsik was from another planet. There might be ghosts on it with powers of the dead. It might actually be a rather frightening planet."

"Um. Okay." Sissel wasn't terribly interested in whatever she was talking about and turned his attention to the mouse. He started moving it with his paw and watching the cursor dart about on the screen. "Hey, this is fun."

"Sissel! Stop that," Lynne scolded. "It's not a toy." She took the mouse back and scrolled down. "It doesn't seem like many people were calling it an act of the gods in this time. I guess that makes sense. They thought the gods wanted to save me by striking Yomiel down, right? So they called it the rock of the gods."

"They must have been very cruel gods," Sissel said. "Yomiel was really suffering during those ten years."

"Yeah, I know. I don't think the gods were behind this either. The Temsik meteorite was just a piece of debris floating in space that fell to our planet one day. It must have come from somewhere but I don't think we'll ever know where." Lynne went to the search engine and tapped in another query. "There's some stuff about the hostage incident. I've never read anything about it before."

Sissel glanced at the jumble of words on the screen. It was all utterly meaningless to him. "It's not like you really need to, is it?"

"I'm just curious." Lynne quietly browsed through the articles. "There's some stuff about Yomiel's arrest and sentence too. Come to think of it, there isn't any mention of him saving me. I wonder why he didn't take any credit for it."

"Even if he saved you, he still took you hostage in the first place. Yomiel did feel pretty bad about his crime once he'd given up on his revenge plot."

"And he would still have gone to jail anyway." Lynne reached into her drawer and took out a packet of potato chips. "I'm getting a case of the munchies. Time to eat." She opened it and started munching away.

"I wonder when the police will get back here with that guy, if they catch him." Sissel lay down. (Hmm, I've never had a good look at this place before. I think I'll just explore for a bit.)

"Okay, just be sure to behave yourself." Lynne sat back in the chair, tossing a chip into her mouth.

(What is with everyone thinking I'm some kind of prankster?) Sissel jumped out of his body and began his exploration.

An hour later, Lynne was becoming engrossed in an online game when Jowd approached her desk. "Cabanela wants to see us."

"Right." Lynne picked up Sissel's body. "He went exploring and hasn't come back yet. Whatever he's doing, it must be really exciting."

"Maybe he even got bored of hanging around here and went on a trip through the phone lines. I'm sure he'll back sooner or later."

Jowd and Lynne went over to Cabanela's office. The inspector was sitting at his desk and he didn't look happy.

"I sent the boys to Cotts' last known place of residence. The place was completely empty. They tried other places where he had lived and even asked around, but it's like the guy just vanished." Cabanela let out a groan of frustration. "Can't something go right for us for a change?"

"He must have done this on purpose," Jowd said. "He didn't want us to be able to find him so easily."

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Lynne asked. "Come to think of it, he goes to Temsik Park a lot. Maybe he'll turn up there."

"Suuure, I'll have someone go look there but he's bound to know we're after him by now. He was brazen enough to walk into someone's house with a gun and leave them alive."

"Not to mention he even told Yomiel his name as well. He certainly has a lot of guts," said Jowd.

"In the meantime, there's something you could do for us, baby." Cabanela looked toward Lynne. "We haven't seen this Cotts person but you have. Think you could maaake a facial composition of the guy?"

"Sure, I'll get on that right away." Lynne jumped as Sissel suddenly stirred in her arms. "You're finally back."

"Sorry, I got a bit sidetracked. What did I miss?"

"The police couldn't find Cotts so I'm going to make a facial composition of him. Since you saw him as well, you can help me out. I'll explain it to you in a bit."

"A job for us?" (That sounds interesting.)

"Inspector Cabanela's counting on us, so let's do our best," Lynne said, leaving the office.

x-o-x-o-x

"That was a long day, wasn't it, Sissel?" Jowd said. He was walking back home with the kitten safely inside his jacket pocket. It was late and the sky was already growing dark. "I bet today was a fascinating experience for you. You even helped Lynne do a facial composition."

(Jowd's workplace is certainly interesting. The people there are always so busy and I've seen them doing so many things. I don't understand a lot of it though. It's a complicated business, trying to keep everyone safe from evil.)

"Ah, here we are. I'm looking forward to Alma's cooking." Jowd went up the path to his house and stepped through the front door. "I'm home!"

"Welcome home, Dad." Kamila came running over. "Is Sissel with you? I haven't seen him since you all left."

"Yeah, we just took him over to work. Did I make you worry?" Jowd lifted Sissel out of his pocket and handed him over. "Sorry, I'll be sure to tell you next time."

Kamila clutched Sissel to her body, a frown appearing on her face. "Is he in trouble? Those bad guys aren't going to come after him because he's special, are they?"

"What? Oh no, of course not. They aren't interested in a kitten." Jowd forced a laugh. "We just thought he might like to see our workplace, give him a change of scenery."

"Okay, Dad." Kamila flashed him a wobbly smile then left the kitchen with Sissel. She went up to her bedroom and lay down on the bed, holding onto the kitten tightly. "I don't think Dad was being honest with me just now, Sissy."

(The little lady saw right through his lies, huh? I don't think she told Detective Jowd that she remembers the other time, so he doesn't know she's aware of ghosts and the powers of the dead.)

"You still have those ghost powers, right? That scary blue man must have been asking Dad about them." Kamila's hold tightened and she buried her face in his fur. "It's your powers they are after. If they find out that you have them, then they will try to take you away and do bad things to you. I don't want that to happen, Sissy. I would hate to lose you."

(She's really worried about me. It's too bad I can't talk to her anymore. I could at least try to say something comforting. Well, actions speak louder than words.) Sissel purred and rubbed his face against Kamila's cheek.

"Are you trying to tell me it will be okay?" Kamila scratched behind his ears. "Just be careful, alright? Don't let those bad guys get you." She closed her eyes and smiled in contentment.

"Kamila! Dinner!" her mother called out half an hour later.

"I'm coming!" Kamila got up from the bed and hurried downstairs. Sissel followed her down and watched the family sit around the table to eat.

"It's such a peaceful scene," Sissel commented. "Wouldn't it be nice if it could always be like this? No troubles, worries, pain... just peace and happiness." He quietly slunk out through the catflap and went off into the night. After that long and hectic day, he wanted to have some peace and quiet so he could think about things.

Since it was so late, there was nobody else around and the silence was only occasionally broken by a car roaring past on the road. Sissel went to the end of the street and hopped up onto a brick wall, looking up. He could see the moon through a gap in the clouds.

"What is going to happen next? That Cotts person has probably already told Commander Sith about me. I doubt he would be sending a hitman after me though, that would be ridiculous. He would probably just have me kidnapped so I'm sure he'll be sending someone."

The clouds were moving fast across the sky and he could barely make out the moon anymore. Sissel turned his attention to the house next to him. The lights were on and he could see people moving around inside behind the blinds.

"Cotts knows where I live as well so they are bound to turn up at Detective Jowd's place." That particular thought left Sissel with a sinking feeling. "Could Detective Jowd and his family end up being in danger again? I don't want that to happen." (I would really hate it if I ended up being the reason something happened to them.)

The kitten's ears twitched as he heard feet clomping down heavily on the pavement. Though he assumed it was only somebody heading to their destination, he turned around to see who it was anyway and a jolt of alarm passed through his body. (It's him! Cotts!) He leaped to his feet and stumbled back, watching the man nervously.

Cotts came to a stop, gazing into his luminous eyes and smirking. "Oh, if it isn't that strange little kitten I saw in the park. I know you're the same kitten I saw ten years ago but I wonder how it's possible for you to still be one after ten years."

Sissel crouched low, twitching his tail back and forth as he debated the next course of action. (I should probably just run for it while I still can. After all, it's not like he could ever hope to catch me. Though maybe I should at least hear him out first.)

Cotts reached a hand into his jacket and whipped it out again. For a brief second, Sissel could see the gun clasped tightly between his fingers, glinting as it caught the light of the nearby street lamp. A dazzling white light flashed before his eyes and his ears were filled with a loud roar. The world whirled around him at a dizzying rate and he found himself lying flat on the pavement.

(What in the world? Did he just shoot me?) Sissel jumped into the Ghost World so that time stood still and he had a chance to get his bearings before anything else could happen. "Why would he do that? Was he attempting to kill me? I don't know why anyone would want to kill a cat. No... that's not it. It must be a test. He must be thinking I'll just get up again! I've got to play dead and let him think he killed me." (Though, technically, I wouldn't just be PLAYING dead...)

"What's the matter? Are you dead?" Cotts asked after Sissel had unfroze time. He stared at the kitten's body for a short while then walked over to examine it. Sissel became tense, praying that he would just give up and leave. "How curious. I don't see any blood."

(This really isn't good. What do I do now?)

Cotts reached out and picked Sissel up by the scruff of his neck. He held him close to his face, a grin spreading across his features. "Are you still there? I don't have to leave you lying on the street, you know. Maybe I'll gift wrap you and hand you over to the commander as a present."

Sissel's eyes shot open, startling Cotts. He lashed out with his claws and scratched furiously at the man, raking the soft flesh of his face. A claw scraped one of Cotts' eyes, provoking a howl of pain. His grip loosened and Sissel dropped down on all fours to the ground. He started running and didn't stop until he was safely back home.

The family had already eaten their dinner and left the table. Alma was picking up the dishes and taking them into the kitchen. Jowd and Kamila were nowhere to be seen. Sissel heard the sound of the television and went into the living room where he found Kamila seated on the sofa, reading a book. He hopped up onto the sofa and walked over to sit on her lap.

"Did you go outside again, Sissy?" Kamila stroked him. "I don't think you should be going out at night."

(What reasonable advice from the little lady. Too bad it's too late. Now Cotts knows I'm really not just an ordinary kitten, but it wasn't like I had much choice then. He would have handed me over to Commander Sith if I hadn't fought him off. I should have known better than to go out.)

Sissel curled up in a ball and closed his eyes. After the shock of what had just happened, lying on Kamila's lap and listening to the television in the background was a nice comfort. (I'll have to tell Lynne what happened, but I think it can wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow... I guess it will be another eventful day. For now, I'm just going to enjoy this peace while it last.)


	9. Chapter 9

Sissel went over to Lynne's apartment via the telephone the next morning. The detective was nowhere to be seen and neither was Missile.

"Lynne must have taken the little doggie out. I guess she'll be back soon." (I'll just sit and wait for her to return then.)

A few minutes later, the door opened and Lynne came in with Missile. She reached down to unfasten his leash and patted his head. "Good boy, Missile."

The star ornament on the Christmas tree suddenly began to twirl around while playing a tune. Missile scampered over to the tree and reared up with a loud bark.

"Missile, no!" Lynne hurried over to silence the ornament. She pointed her finger at the Pomeranian. "Bad dog!"

Missile immediately quietened down and hung his head shamefully.

Lynne sighed and turned around to look at the star ornament with narrowed eyes. "And you're a bad cat, Sissel."

"I was just welcoming you with this nice melody," Sissel protested. "Were you taking Missile for a walk?"

"How could you, Sissel?" Missile cried out, sounding injured. "Because of you, Miss Lynne told me off! Right after she praised me too!"

(So I'm responsible for your uncontrollable barking now?)

"I was just taking him out to answer a call of nature. So what brings you over here anyway?" Lynne asked.

"Yeah, about that, well, something happened last night."

"Is it the organization again?" Lynne clenched a fist. "What did those jerks do this time?"

"Actually, it was Cotts. I went out for a bit and I saw him on the street near Detetctive Jowd's place. The detective and his family are fine though, he didn't go to their place."

"I'm glad Miss Kamila is fine, but who is this Cotts person?"

"He's somebody who's involved with the organization, like Yomiel was in the other timeline," Lynne explained. "We've been trying to arrest him but haven't had much luck so far. So what happened, Sissel?"

"Another bad guy, huh?" Missile said. "If I ever see him, I'll bite his leg!"

"You really shouldn't. He carries around a gun." (Has he already forgotten what happened the last time he tried biting someone's leg?) Sissel thought exasperatedly. "Anyway, I was just minding my own business then he came out of nowhere and he shot me all of a sudden."

"What?" Lynne covered her mouth and her eyes widened. "But why would he shoot a cat? For that matter, the bullet wouldn't have done a thing to you. Did he notice?"

"I tried playing dead but that didn't work so well. So I had no choice but to run back home before he tried handing me over to the Commander." Sissel looked down guiltily. "I shouldn't have gone out. Now he knows there really is something special about me and he'll surely think it's because of the meteorite."

"He already suspected you weren't an ordinary kitten. Last night just confirmed it for him." Lynne gnawed on her thumb anxiously. "Did you tell anybody else about this?"

"Yomiel is the only other person besides you who even has a core of the dead. I haven't told him, so no."

"And you waited until morning to tell me about this?"

"Uh, well... I figured everyone could do with a little break. Anyway, nothing else happened, so what's the problem?" Sissel said. "I was already in danger to begin with."

"Yeah, but, still." Lynne brushed back her bangs with one hand, exhaling heavily. "Okay, I'm going to head over to Detective Jowd's. Missile, do you want to come?"

"Of course I do!" Missile replied in his loudest voice possible.

"I don't even know why I bothered to ask. Alright, Sissel, I'll see you over there. Just have to do a few things first."

"Got it. See you soon." Sissel jumped over to the phone and travelled through the line back home. He returned to his body, which was lying safely in his basket where he had left it. There he waited until he heard the sound of knocking on the door.

Alma went to open the door. "Oh, hello, Lynne. Have you come to see Jowd?"

"Is he still in? I have to talk to him about something important. Also, I brought Missile over to play with Kamila." Lynne knelt down and unfastened the leash from Missile's collar. Missile raced into the room, letting off a bark.

"He's just in his office right now," said Alma. "Would you like some coffee?"

"No, that's alright, thanks." Lynne walked inside and picked up Sissel when he came over to her. "So what are we going to do with you? You really shouldn't be going off on walks alone in your situation, you know, especially at night."

"But I'm a cat! Going off on walks by myself is in my nature." Sissel didn't particularly enjoy the idea of being trapped inside a room. Though with his ghost tricks, that wasn't usually a problem. "Am I supposed to just leave my body behind and travel through cores instead?"

"We just want to keep you safe from harm. If that organization got their hands on you, it would be all over." The young detective frowned sadly. "I would hate to think of you trapped on a submarine, sinking into the bottomless sea like what happened with Yomiel. It would be awful."

"I won't let that happen." (She's right though. If they got my body, they would take the Temsik fragment out and probably want to leave me somewhere far away where I couldn't get to them. That feeling of being completely isolated, sinking further into the deep sea, it's awful.)

"So you have to be very careful, Sissel. You understand that, don't you?"

"Of course I do, but what are we going to do? Cotts knows where I live and he'll tell the organization. They would come over here to get me and Detective Jowd and his family would be in danger again."

"We'll figure something out," Lynne assured. "Besides, I'm sure Detective Jowd is prepared for something like that happening. He is a detective after all. It's not going to be that easy. They would have to be pretty crazy to just go walking into the house, you know."

"So they will try the sneaky approach?" Sissel asked. "Now I'm imagining blue men hiding in bushes waiting to pop out and grab me."

"It will probably be something trickier than that. They would have to be really fast to grab a cat. It's a good thing you're a cat and not... a tortoise."

(That was random.)

"Missile!" Kamila came into the room and ran over to hug him. "Hi, Lynne."

"Hi, Kamila." Lynne watched as she made a fuss of the wriggling mass of fur clutched in her arms. "I was thinking you should keep a closer eye on Sissel from now on, just in case. It's not really good for him to be walking outside on his own right now."

"Now you're asking the little lady to keep watch over me?" (Does she think I'm going to run off when nobody's looking? I'm not Missile.)

Kamila looked up, the smile fading from her face. "So I was right. He really is in danger, isn't he? Those blue people are after him."

"We'll do our best to protect him from them, I promise. I won't let them get Sissel." Lynne turned her gaze toward the kitten, her mouth curving in a smile. "After all, he is my very important friend."

"Okay, I'm counting on you." Kamila stood up. "Shall we go out and play in the garden, Missile? I found some old tennis balls to use." She raced off with Missile in pursuit.

"Good morning, Lynne," Jowd said, entering the room. "You're here quite early, aren't you?"

"Good morning! I had to come over here to tell you about something that happened to Sissel, since he can't tell you himself."

"Huh?" Jowd gave Sissel a confused look. As far as he could tell, Sissel was fine. Though maybe fine wasn't the best way to describe a half-dead cat. "What do you mean?"

"He went out last night and saw Cotts on the street not far from here. That creep even took out his gun and shot Sissel." Lynne frowned, stroking the little kitten. "Good thing Sissel's already sort of dead. Unfortunately, Cotts realised that the bullet didn't do anything to him."

"That's probably what he was expecting. I doubt he goes around shooting cats for fun. It's too bad I didn't hear that shot. I could have chased him down and arrested him." Jowd crossed his arms over his chest. "That was rather careless of you, Sissel. You'll have to be more careful from now on. We don't want you getting kidnapped."

"Alright, I get it already! Sheesh." (Why is everyone giving me the third degree?)

Lynne chuckled. "Sissel's a bit fed up with all this nagging. It's only because we care about you, you know."

"Yeah. I know." (I learned my lesson after I got shot in the face. No need to keep reminding me it's a bad idea.)

"I'm going to make some coffee. Do you want any?"

"No thanks," Lynne replied. "I'm going to go out to the garden for a bit. Kamila's already out there with Missile." She headed outside with Sissel.

"Missile, catch!" Kamila threw the tennis ball. It sailed through the air and hit the ground, bouncing a few times before stopping. Missile was already tearing off after it.

Sissel jumped into the Ghost World and zipped along the available cores until he reached the tennis ball. (I just can't resist teasing Missile a little bit. It's too fun.) Right before Missile could reach the ball, Sissel started rolling it away from him at a rapid pace. Missile stopped and let out a confused whimper before giving chase.

"Huh?" Kamila's jaw dropped. "Why is... wait a minute." She turned around to see Lynne and noticed the limp body clutched in her arms. "Oh."

"Sissel apparently finds his ghost tricks very fun." Lynne rolled her eyes. "Poor Missile."

"Well, at least he's getting more exercise, right?" Kamila turned around to watch Missile desperately pursuing the tennis ball, giggling. "Come on, Missile, you can catch it! Keep going!"

"Sissel!" Missile cried out. "I have to return Miss Kamila's precious ball to her. Do you want her to be upset?"

"Uh... she doesn't look very upset to me." (I think you're not quite understanding the point of this game.)

"I have to bring it back to her! I won't let you stop me!"

(Is that a challenge?) Sissel started rolling the ball even faster. Playing with Missile like this was actually pretty entertaining and helped him take his mind off the more pressing matters. (We should do this more often.)

Lynne and Kamila sat down on a bench, watching Missile desperately chase after the runaway tennis ball.

"So, when Sissel's body goes limp like that, that means he's not in there anymore?" Kamila spoke. "Dad told me and Mom that he was a narcoleptic cat."

"That's a good excuse. He didn't want you thinking Sissel was dead and giving him a backyard burial." Lynne prodded at the furry lump lying across her lap. "He does look kind of dead like this. It's better to just think of him as asleep."

"How did he die?" Kamila wondered out loud. "He's been like this the whole time we've had him, right?"

"Yeah, it had already happened by the time your dad brought him home. He was hit... by a meteorite fragment. The fragment is still inside him so that's why he still has his body. It never ages and it can't even be damaged."

"What would happen if it was removed?" Kamila's voice lowered to a hushed whisper.

Lynne didn't speak for a short while. "The body would become a proper corpse."

The little girl shivered and looked away. "That would be really bad, wouldn't it? If those bad guys got a hold on him, I'm sure they would take it out. That can't happen."

Missile came running over to Kamila with the tennis ball clamped fast between his jaws. He sat himself down before her and dropped the ball at her feet, wagging his tail furiously all the while.

"Well done, Missile!" Kamila patted his head. She reached out to gingerly pick up the tennis ball. "That was a nice workout for you, wasn't it?"

"Lynne!" Jowd was standing in the doorway. "Cabanela just called, he wants us to go over to Temsik Park."

"Temsik Park?" Lynne waited until Sissel was back in his body before getting up from the bench. "We shouldn't keep him waiting then. Kamila, you keep watch over Missile while we're gone."

x-o-x-o-x

The park was unusually crowded this morning, providing a strange contrast to its near abandoned state. Lynne, Sissel and Jowd arrived at the scene to see Cabanela waiting for them near the crater, accompanied by the Professor. Sissel noticed the detective with the flat cap and a certain freckled young woman with green hair standing by a van.

(That's the first time I've seen Detective Memry in something other than that waitress uniform. I guess she isn't working at the Chicken Kitchen at the moment.) Sissel turned his attention to a large machine which was rumbling loudly. It extended a long arm toward the crater, sinking it down into the earth. "What in the world is that thing?"

"That's a mechanical digger," Lynne replied. "Good morning, Inspector!"

"Morning, baby." Cabanela raised a hand. "I thooought you two should come to see this. The Special Investigation Unit got permission to remove the Temsik meteorite. It's too dangerous to just leave it sitting there."

"At last, I'm going to get to see the meteorite with my own eyes." The Professor had a smile on his face and his eyes were gleaming with excitement. "I've only ever seen pictures of small fragments. It's nothing compared to seeing the whole thing up close."

"I never thought I would be watching people dig up a rock," Memry was currently saying. "What's the big deal supposed to be anyway?"

"I'm not so sure myself but it's a big deal to the Special Investigation Unit," Rindge replied, "and our job is of the utmost importance. If we failed, well, I don't want to think about what would happen in that case."

"I thought the inspector was being a bit extreme when he said it was a matter of life and death. Of course I'll do my best. I worked so hard to get into the Special Investigation Unit after all. At least if I screw up and get fired, I have a back up job."

"Well I don't, so let's not screw up." Rindge leaned against the van, casting a look at her. "And what job is that anyway?"

"The chef said I would always be welcome back at the Chicken Kitchen. Though I don't know about working there full time." Memry's forehead creased in a severe frown. "And the last time I was there, I got this phone call from a rude customer who yelled at me because her takeaway was late. It's not my fault if the chef is taking so long to deliver the chicken. Hmph!"

"Somebody was complaining because their chicken was late?" Sissel said. "Hmm, that sounds like someone I know."

"What? Are you accusing me of being the rude customer?" Lynne asked indignantly. "I can't believe you would just go and blame me like that!"

"How did you know I was thinking about you?"

"Uh, um... er..." Lynne trailed off, her mouth hanging open dumbly. "Okay, fine, so it was me! That chicken was nearly an hour late and I was hungry. It was already cold by the time it even got to me. Just what was that chef doing while I was waiting for my chicken?"

"I wonder. Maybe he was playing on the swing again."

"Huh? That swing over there?"

"That's right."

"Well, now I know where to go next time my chicken is late." Lynne clenched a fist and smiled. To Sissel, there was something fairly ominous about that smile. He hardly dared to imagine what would happen to that poor chef should he make the mistake of not delivering Lynne's chicken to her straight away again.

"So, where are you planning on moving the meteorite to?" Jowd asked. "Hopefully it's somewhere those foreigners will never be able to find it. Maybe you could put it on a rocket and shoot it into space."

"We are most certainly not doing that," the Professor said, placing his hands on his hips and giving the bearded detective a sharp look. "This is my valuable research material after all. Besides, even if it was shot into space, I don't think that would stop them. They might just fly up there and shoot the rocket down."

"Hmm. It wouldn't surprise me if they had the means to do that," Jowd murmured, rubbing his chin. "Their use of technology is really off after all."

"We're just going to move it to that laboratory where the Professor works and keep it in a seeecure facility," Cabanela told him. "It's a good thing hardly anybody knows about the research he's doing. Makes our work easier."

"Yeah, nobody is terribly interested in some old rock that fell down from space ten years ago," the Professor said. "I've been doing this work all for myself. Though it's coming in quite handy for the police now, isn't it?"

A loud clank came from the crater as the digger's claw struck against something hard.

"Hey, be careful!" the Professor exclaimed, swinging around. The little blue pigeon atop his head fluttered its wings, startled by the movement. "Don't go breaking it now!"

"I'll make sure my boys pick up every last piece of that meteorite so don't you worry," Cabanela assured him. "When we're done, it will be like Temsik was never here."

"Except for the giant hole in the ground," Jowd said dryly.

The claw sank down again into the soft earth, tearing a large chunk of it free. As it rose into the air with soil raining onto the ground, something glinted within the large chunk of earth atop it. The claw turned over and gently deposited its catch. Between the crusts of soil, the onlookers could just make out a crystalline surface that gave off a gentle glow.

"Looks liiike it's out now," Cabanela said as they approached it.

The Professor knelt down before the meteorite and brushed away the chunks of earth that clung to its top. "Amazing," he muttered. "Look at how vibrantly it glows. Those photographs didn't even do it justice."

"Even with all that dirt on it, it's beautiful." Lynne leaned over with an awed expression on her face. "Someone could make a fortune using this as jewellery."

(Yeah, and I'm sure that's the absolute last thing those foreigners will use it for if they get their hands on it.)

"It sure is glowing awfully bright." Memry had come over to get a closer look. Now she seemed worried. "It isn't radioactive, is it?"

"It isn't dangerous, if that's what you're concerned about," said the Professor.

"Alright, boys, get shovelling," Cabanela said to the men who had emerged from the diggers. "Dig up any fragments left in there and haaand them over to us."

"Can I get some help over here?" Rindge was standing behind the van. "This is an awfully heavy container."

Jowd went over to assist him. They came over to the crater, holding onto a thick steel container. Sissel had a look at it and was mystified by the small screen and keypad on the side.

(It's a strange looking box. I guess that's what they plan on keeping the meteorite in.)

The container made an audible thudding noise as it came to rest on the ground. Jowd wiped his forehead, sighing. "You weren't kidding. That is heavy."

"That's several inches of reinforced steel, baby," Cabanela declared. "It's compleeetely dynamite proof and nobody would be able to saw their way into it. There's an eight digit key code required to unlock it too."

"Sounds like the meteorite will be pretty safe," Lynne said. "I guess we can all sleep a little easier tonight. Well, just a little. There's still a piece of the meteorite that won't be going inside the box after all."

"Yeah, because it's inside me. I hope nobody is planning to put me under lock and key. I rather like being able to move around in my own body."

"It won't come to that." Lynne stroked Sissel reassuringly. "As long as we know where you are at all times, it's good enough. If you were grabbed somewhere and we had no idea it even happened, we wouldn't be able to help you until it was too late."

Soon enough, all the remaining pieces of the meteorite had been unearthed and gathered in a neat little pile. Jowd and Cabanela carefully lifted up the meteorite and placed it into the box, along with the fragments. The lid of the container was closed with a solid click and Temsik was sealed away. The container was then loaded into the van.

"Alright, you two, you have a very important task ahead of yourselves," Cabanela said, turning around to face Rindge and Memry. "As you know, you have to deliver this meteorite safely to the location. Make sure that nobody is following you. Take the long way round in case anyone is on your trail. This is veeery important after all."

"Yes, sir!" Rindge saluted. "We won't let you down."

Memry joined him in saluting the inspector. "You can count on us, sir."

(Good luck,) Sissel thought, watching on with apprehension as the two detectives got into the van. (I hope they manage to get there safely.)

"Okay, boys, you're dismissed," Cabanela said to the men standing there with their shovels. "Thanks for all your hard work." He turned his attention to Jowd and Lynne. "There's a nice little café not far from here. Shall we stop by for some coffee before we go into work? My treeeat."

"That sounds good," Jowd said. "It would be better than drinking coffee at the station."

Lynne gazed thoughtfully at the crater. "That meteorite lay in the ground for ten years. It was a pretty big part of the park's history and now it's gone. It's kind of sad, isn't it?"

"I don't know. I don't tend to think deeply about these things," Sissel said. "Temsik was already all but forgotten about by now anyway. I think this park saw more activity on this one morning than it's had in years."

"Well, at least the meteorite is going to a safe place now." Lynne turned away. "Too bad that man didn't show his face here. We could have arrested him. He must know we're after him."

"So, baby, how about thaaat coffee?"

"Oh, yeah, I'll come along."

"I'll just be excusing myself now," said the Professor. "I'm very grateful for the opportunity to see the meteorite up close. Thank you for inviting me."

After an exchange of farewells, the Professor and the three detectives went their separate ways out of the park. Cabanela, Lynne and Jowd were soon sitting inside the café and ordering coffee. Sissel was hidden away inside Detective Jowd's jacket pocket since they hardly wanted to risk letting him be outside on his own, even for a few minutes.

"What is it with detectives and coffee? They can't seem to get enough of the stuff," Sissel said. "Is it really because of their job? I don't think I've ever had this coffee stuff. Is it good?"

"Of course you haven't. Caffeine is poisonous to cats," Lynne pointed out.

"Caffeine?" Sissel repeated in surprise. He had no idea what caffeine was, let alone the fact it was supposed to be deadly to his species.

"It's a drug found in certain drinks and food, like chocolate for example. It's bad for dogs as well. You wouldn't believe how many people make the mistake of giving their dogs chocolate." Lynne rolled her eyes. "Dogs aren't picky eaters like cats."

"Picky? I always ate whatever Yomiel gave me."

"Really?" Lynne gave him a suspicious look. "You even took your tablets?"

"Tablets?"

"Oh, come on, Sissel! You were living with him for ten years, you must have had some. Those little round things?"

(Little round things... wait, I think I do remember... but they tasted horrible. I refused to eat them. Though my memory of those times is a little hazy for some reason.)

"Yomiel manipulated you into eating them, didn't he?" Lynne started giggling. "I don't blame him."

"The nerve of him!" Sissel exclaimed. "How could he make me eat something that tasted so nasty?"

"To keep you healthy of course, silly," Lynne replied. "He obviously took very good care of you."

"Yeah, he did. I wonder what he's up to right now?" (Maybe I should go and see him. He might still be a bit shaken up from what happened yesterday.)

"You could go right now if you like. If we're gone by the time you get back, you can go to the station through the phone lines, right?"

"That's not such a bad idea. Alright, I'll see you later then." Sissel left his body and hopped from core to core until he reached the payphone located at the back of the café. He went through the line over to his destination.

Yomiel was lying across the sofa, propped up on a cushion with an arm behind his head. A discarded newspaper was lying on the floor haphazardly. Sissel heard him quietly sighing.

"He doesn't look very happy. I wonder if it has something to do with that newspaper?" Sissel came closer to talk to him. "What's wrong, Yomiel? You aren't in high spirits this morning."

"I guess. Trying to find a job is just really frustrating, considering the circumstances," Yomiel said. "Enough of that, anyway. How have you been? Has there been any trouble?"

"Well, I'm obviously still safe. My body is safely in Jowd's coat pocket right now and I'm not allowed to go outside by myself. They want to know where I am at all times. I got a bit careless last night." (Hmm, should I tell him?)

"Tell me what? I can hear your thoughts loud and clear, you know." Yomiel gave him a serious look. "Did something happen to you, Sissel? Please don't hide anything from me. I would like to know what's going on."

"Er, well, I went outside for a little walk and that guy popped up out of nowhere," Sissel replied. "The same guy who threatened you with a gun."

"What?" Yomiel's voice rose. "That bastard... what did he do to you? If I get my hands on him, I'll-"

"Please don't say you'll kill him. If it was coming from you, I would be afraid you were serious," Sissel interrupted. "He put a bullet in me, presumably to see what I would do next. I had no choice but to run for it in that situation."

"If anybody harmed you... I... I don't know what I would do. You are a very important friend to me after all." Yomiel lowered his gaze, swallowing. "I can't lose you again."

"Everyone is looking out for me so I'm sure I'll be okay," Sissel said. "Lynne and Detective Jowd won't let me be taken away so easily."

"You shouldn't underestimate them though. Those people will do anything to get a hold of that power." Yomiel bit his lip. "They might just end up going to the park and digging up that meteorite though, now that its connection has been exposed."

"Actually, we don't have to worry too much about that. Cabanela got permission to have the meteorite dug up and had it moved somewhere else."

"Huh." Yomiel seemed to be surprised by this news. "That's rather different to what he did in the other timeline. Though the situation isn't really the same of course. There was no manipulator case for one thing. There's no time to be asking the government to protect the meteorite and hoping they follow through either."

"Now that it's safely out of the way, the fragment inside me is all that's left. We'll be ready for them if they come," Sissel said. "I'm rather nervous about what they might try to do. We really don't have any idea what their next course of action is going to be."

"I imagine Commander Sith must be growing tired of losing hitmen at this point. He'll try something else, I imagine." Yomiel fell silent as he started thinking. "His objective will likely change with what he's bound to have learned about you and the meteorite. Now that he can't steal the meteorite, you're definitely a target. It would be easy enough to kidnap you if you were out by yourself. Most people wouldn't pay attention to a cat being grabbed off the street."

"Hmm. As long as I'm being watched over and not wandering off by myself, that makes things more difficult for them," Sissel commented. "I'm rather afraid of what they might do just to get their hands on me though. I could be putting people round me in danger."

"That's true. You can't really do anything about that," Yomiel said. "You'll just have to stay with the detectives at all time. They should be able to handle themselves, I hope."

"Right, they aren't detectives for nothing. And I'll probably be spending most of the time at the station for a while until this problem is over. It's not so bad. Watching people work over there is fascinating. Yesterday, I even helped Lynne work on a... um, that thing where you make a face on the computer."

"You're still learning a lot of new things, aren't you?" Yomiel smiled. "You already know so much the average cat wouldn't."

"And I'm sure there are still plenty more things for me to find out. It really is fun to learn about new stuff. Hmm." Sissel tilted his head thoughtfully. "I should try learning to read. Is it difficult?"

"Uh... yeah. For that matter, you would have to find someone crazy enough to teach a cat to read."

"Hmm, maybe Lynne might if I ask her nicely." (She is a bit of a weird girl sometimes.)

"Right. Well, good luck with that then," Yomiel said doubtfully.

"Anyway, I suppose I should be getting back then. I shouldn't leave my body alone for too long. Take care, Yomiel."

"Yeah. You be careful too."

Sissel left through the phone line, heading back to the café. (I wonder what else today will bring? It would be nice if we could have some good luck for a change.)

x-o-x-o-x

"We are back in the boundaries of the other country, sir," the robotic servant spoke. His boss was sitting his chair, quietly eating from a bunch of grapes. "Now that we're here, shall I hook us up to the communication cables, sir?"

"Yes, please do. I would like to have a talk with Cotts, see what might have developed while we were away," replied Sith. "I certainly hope we'll be more successful in getting what we want this time. If I keep losing hitmen like this, nobody is going to want to work for me anymore, man!"

"Perhaps you could offer them a higher wage, sir?" his servant suggested. "It might also be time you thought up a new strategy, sir."

"I thought that Ruthless Rengo might actually get somewhere by carrying out a kidnapping for a change," Sith grumbled. "He turned out to be just as useless as the other two hitmen. I even warned him about the strange powers too."

"Whatever the source of these powers is, we might be no match for it, sir."

"Bah! I don't want to hear that sort of pessimism!" Sith threw the grapes into the fruit bowl, giving the robot a contemptuous look. "Who programmed you to have such a miserable outlook on life anyway?"

"I am merely being realistic. If my observation offended you in some way, then I really do apologise for that, sir." The servant tapped on the control panel and gave it a heavy swipe. The table flipped over to reveal the telephone. "Now you may call him, sir."

Commander Sith dialled the number and waited. After a few rings, the call was picked up. "Hello, Commander Sith. It has been a while. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever call."

"I had some things to do back in my country. After losing another hitman, I am really not happy," Sith said in an angry voice. "Even though I warned him, he still ended up disappearing. Just what is going on?"

"I have some news that might be to your liking. I believe I have discovered the source of these powers."

"What?" Commander Sith jumped in his chair. "Confound it! If it was so easy for you to do that, why did you even need my services then? I shouldn't have bothered with this deal!"

"But, Commander, don't you want them for yourself?" Cotts asked. "Let me tell you something. On that day in Temsik Park, ten years ago, a meteorite crashed down into the park. At the time, I thought it was only an ordinary meteorite and it seems I was sadly mistaken."

"A meteorite?" Sith spoke in a disbelieving tone. "Are you serious?"

"There was a kitten on the scene. When that meteorite crashed, one of the fragments went flying... and very likely hit that kitten. Even after ten years, it is still a kitten."

"Great Scott! Does this kitten have the powers you spoke of?"

"I wouldn't be surprised." Cotts paused. "I even went and shot it in the face."

"You whaaat?" Commander Sith's hand tightened around the phone. "Why in the world would you go and do something like that? How is killing something that may be valuable to us of any help?"

Cotts sighed and clicked his tongue. "Didn't you hear what I said earlier? The meteorite may have hit the kitten, meaning it died ten years ago, but it still appears to be alive. It didn't die when I shot it. In fact, it ran away."

"My word! This is incredible." Commander Sith paused to think. "We'll have to get a hold of that kitten somehow. Oh, wait, what about that meteorite? That would be even better."

"Unfortunately, the meteorite is out of our reach. When I dropped by the park this morning I saw it being dug up. It was taken away in a van and I have no idea where it went."

"Blast!" The knuckles of the eyebrowed man's hand turned white as he clutched the phone harder. "Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?"

"You were unreachable at the time. What was I supposed to do? Anyway, there's still the kitten and what's inside it," said Cotts. "You still have the data of those targets, right? I know that the cat lives with the detective in the green coat. It has also been seen with that pointy haired man and the female detective. Quite a popular cat, isn't it?"

"I see. If it was with one of the targets, we might be able to... yes, we should do this." Commander Sith's face split in a grin. "If only you had told me about the cat sooner, Cotts."

"It was just a cat. I didn't think it was even important at the time." Cotts exhaled heavily. "Sorry about that. Would you really have targeted it though?"

"Hmm... well, I suppose not," Sith admitted. "Now that we know how special that cat is, I'll get a hold of it for sure. I imagine you'll be hearing from us again soon. Farewell." He hung up the phone and sat back, chuckling. "I think our luck has finally turned around. How hard can it be to kidnap a cat?"

x-o-x-o-x

Cotts switched off the cell phone and slipped it into his pocket. He reached up to pull his hood over his face and stepped out of the alleyway into the street. The man was sure the police would be looking for him now after he had pulled that stunt, threatening someone with a gun and interrogating them in their home, but he wasn't too worried. As long as he kept his face covered and nobody recognised him it should be fine.

Things finally seemed to be looking up. Sooner or later, Cotts was sure he would discover the truth behind those powers. His face split in a smirk. He never would have guessed that the answer would come from a cat of all things. What a shame it was that so much time had been wasted on those people. They probably were aware of these powers, he suspected, they just didn't want to tell anyone. That blond man was especially suspicious, being so concerned about a cat that didn't even belong to him. Just what was his secret? Cotts would have liked to find out but he doubted that would be easy.

"They are all a bunch of dirty liars," Cotts muttered to himself, kicking an empty can which clattered loudly as it rolled away. It was so frustrating, knowing the answers were there in front of him but the people who held the secrets were refusing to talk. That cat was his only hope now. He was feeling a strong hatred toward those people he had seen in the park ten years before, particularly the blond man and the woman. They had the audacity to lie right to his face. That man especially had got him riled up, going so far as to insult him like that.

"Maybe I'll stir things up a bit for him," Cotts murmured, a faint chuckle issuing through his lips. He thrust his hands deep into his pockets and started to walk. His journey took him to the hospital. He headed through the sliding double doors and went over to the reception desk. "I'm looking for a woman who works here named Sissel. I have some urgent news to tell her about her fiancé."

"Hold on." The receptionist tapped away on the keyboard, glancing at the computer screen. "I see she's free at the moment so I'll have her paged down. Please take a seat and wait for her to come."

"Thank you." Cotts sat down in one of the available chairs and waited. He soon caught a glimpse of a certain brunette in a white coat emerging through a door. The young woman approached the reception desk and spoke to the receptionist, who gestured in his direction.

Sissel walked over to the man, frowning in puzzlement when she didn't recognise his face. "Hello," she said uncertainly, "you said you had something to tell me about Yomiel? Are you a friend of his?"

Cotts got to his feet, extending a hand toward her. "I am an old acquaintance. It's nice to be able to meet his fiancée at last. I can see why he fell for you." He flashed her a wide smile.

Sissel hesitantly shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too." There was something unsettling about this man and she didn't feel completely at ease around him. "Why have you come here to see me?"

"I have something important to tell you, concerning the man you are going to marry," Cotts replied. "Could we maybe speak about this somewhere a bit more private?"

"Oh, well..." Sissel glanced around nervously. She didn't particularly want to be alone with this man, considering how suspicious he looked. "Alright, we'll go out to the front of the hospital. This won't take too long, will it?" At least there were people outside and he surely wouldn't be foolish enough to try harming her right in front of a hospital where there would be witnesses.

"I'll make it quick," Cotts assured her. They walked out of the building and he turned around to face her. "You've been engaged to Yomiel for ten years. I imagine you must think you know him very well by now."

"Yes, I believe I do." Sissel's lips pressed together in a thin line. That was a very strange question for him to be asking. "Why would you ask that?"

"But do you really know him that well?" Cotts leaned closer, gazing into her eyes. The young woman took a sudden step back. "Don't you think that maybe he's hiding something from you?"

Sissel's face flushed red. "You're wrong! How dare you say such things about him? You aren't really a friend of his, are you?"

"Does he really tell you everything? Haven't you ever suspected he's keeping a secret or two from you?" Cotts asked. "Do you know for example why a hitman came bursting into your house?"

"Huh?" Sissel backed into the wall, her mouth forming the letter O. The colour was quickly draining from her face. "How do you know about that hitman?" she asked shakily.

"He didn't tell you why he was a target, did he? Don't you think you have a right to know something like that?" Cotts asked, watching her closely. She was visibly trembling now but he didn't care.

"H-he said it was dangerous to know. I wasn't going to press him into telling me."

"Do you know the name Commander Sith? Funnily enough, it seems he knew that name and I didn't even tell him. Isn't it strange he would know the name of a high ranked man in a foreign organization?"

"Please stop this!" Sissel raised her head, looking angry. "I don't know why you're doing this or what you hope to accomplish, but it won't work. I love him and nothing is going to change that. If he has secrets, then that's his own business."

"Really? You're okay with him keeping secrets? Has he ever told you about that cat? Why would a man care so much about a cat that didn't belong to him?"

"I..." Sissel had no answer to that. She knew what cat he was talking about without having to ask. The very cat that had her name. "I don't know. Look, if you don't leave right now, I'm calling security." She turned to leave, but Cotts slammed a hand against the wall, preventing her from going any further.

"How can you love a man who hides so many things from you? Did it not even bother you that he took a child hostage?" Cotts asked. "Even knowing the things he's done, you still stand by him. Is he really worth it?"

Sissel turned back to look at him, her eyes flashing with fury. "I love Yomiel more than anything and nothing will change that. He wasn't himself when he committed those crimes and I know that for a fact. You have no right to judge us!"

"I'm just telling you that the man you're in love with might not be all he seems to be. Doesn't it bother you even a little bit?" Cotts smirked.

"Hey!" An uniformed guard raced over to them. "Is there a problem here?"

"It's fine." Cotts backed away. "I was just going now. Nothing to see here." He turned around and hastily walked off.

"Are you alright?" the guard asked, looking at Sissel in concern.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thank you." Sissel flashed him a grateful smile and headed back into the hospital. She forced the encounter to the back of her mind. It wouldn't do to have it troubling her for the rest of the day while she was on the job.

Despite her best efforts to concentrate on her work, she found that she couldn't just forget about it so easily. Those things that man had said were bothering her more than she had thought. Sissel ended up heading home from work early.

"Honey?" Sissel called out as she walked through the front door of their house. "I'm home!"

Yomiel came out of the living room and embraced her. "You're home early."

"Yeah, I had a lot on my mind today so I thought I'd leave a bit earlier than usual. How was your day?"

"As usual, nothing much happened. I only left the house to do a bit of shopping," Yomiel replied. "It really is rather dull not having a job. I suppose I should find a hobby. I'm not so bad at painting actually."

"Hmm, maybe you could become an artist then. That might be one thing your criminal record can't get in the way of." The smile on the brunette's face faded away. "Can we sit down? I need to talk to you about something."

"Huh? Okay."

The couple sat down on the living room's couch. Sissel stared down at her hands which lay clasped in her lap, a troubled frown etched on her face. Yomiel could tell something was wrong but didn't say anything. He would wait for her to speak about whatever was troubling her.

"I want to know the truth," Sissel said. "Why did a hitman come into our house? How come we're in danger even in our own home?"

"Wh-what brought this on all of a sudden?"

"I know you're hiding some things from me. Like that cat with my name." Sissel turned her luminous eyes toward him. "I didn't really believe that story about you just happening to name it in the park but I went along with it anyway. I figured there was some deeper reason that you just didn't want to tell me. But what I really want to know is why you're being targeted."

Yomiel rested his forehead in one hand, sighing deeply. "I'm afraid you would be in more danger if you knew. Why are you asking all these questions now?"

"There was this incident at the hospital today. This strange man came to talk to me-"

"A strange man?" Yomiel turned toward her in alarm. "Did he have long dark hair and stubble?"

"So you do know him then? He said he was... an acquaintance of yours."

"Like hell he is!" Yomiel shouted, causing her to jump. "Sorry," he said quickly, "I shouldn't have yelled. That man just really makes me angry. He seems to enjoy going around and messing up people's lives. He's the reason a hitman came to our house in the first place. Are you okay though, Sissel? He didn't threaten or hurt you, did he?"

"No, he didn't hurt me. He was such a nasty man." Sissel wrapped her arms around herself and trembled. "Saying such terrible things about you."

Yomiel put his arms around her and held her close, resting his chin on her head. "I'm glad you're alright."

"Are we ever going to be safe? Is the day going to come when we don't need to have armed police officers outside our house and we can be free of worry?" Sissel asked. "I don't even know why we're in danger. Yomiel, I don't want there to be any more secrets."

Yomiel closed his eyes in resignation. If Sissel really wanted to know what was going on, he supposed he couldn't hide it from her. "Okay, I'll tell you." He let go of her and sat back. "Ten years ago in that park, a very strange incident happened and a man witnessed it. He became so obsessed with finding out the truth behind it that he contacted a foreign organization."

"A foreign organization?" Sissel repeated. "Including a man named Commander Sith? That man who came to the hospital mentioned him."

Yomiel swallowed. "Yes, that's right. The organization set out to target everyone the man saw in the park that day. Even the little girl who I took hostage. They wanted to find the secrets behind what happened on that day. We all knew the secrets, but fortunately, they never got to find out. They won't stop though, not until they know the truth."

"So what did happen in the park?"

"A boulder moved through the air to rest on top of a lamp post." Yomiel rested against the cushions, thinking silently. He wasn't sure how much he even wanted to tell her. "It saved my life. A meteorite fragment was falling toward me and if that boulder hadn't been there, I would have died."

Sissel covered her mouth with a hand, her eyes growing wide. "Oh gods... I could have lost you. I... I don't know what I would have done if..."

Yomiel certainly had no intention of telling her what she would have done. "The powers of the dead saved me."

"Huh?"

"It would be too complicated to explain. Maybe I'll tell you more about it later but it's not really that important right now. These powers of the dead would be very valuable to that organization. They would use them for evil things."

"This is a lot to take in already." Sissel lowered her head until her chin was resting on her collarbone and sighed deeply. "We could have been killed by that hitman but somehow that didn't happen. Did those powers of the dead save us then?"

"That's right. We were very fortunate there was someone who could save us."

"Okay, so what about that kitten?"

How could he explain it to her? Yomiel wasn't sure he could tell her without bringing the other timeline into it. Maybe he was just going to have to let her in on the secret after all. "Imagine if that meteorite fragment did hit me. I would have died."

"But it didn't." Sissel looked up and reached out, taking his hand in hers. "Right? Such a terrible thing didn't happen. You're alive."

"But what if there was another time when it did, a time that no longer exists? That meteorite isn't an ordinary rock either. The fragment would have stayed inside my body, keeping it between the moments of life and death. I would have appeared to be dead at first. At that time, in the park, while my body lay there, I would have met a little kitten."

"A kitten?" Sissel's grip tightened. "This... really happened, didn't it?"

"The little kitten was my only friend during those ten years. I named him after you. Everything was so bleak and hopeless. Then a miracle happened. We found a way to change fate."

"That's enough," Sissel said firmly. She could see how distressed he looked just talking about it. "I don't want to hear any more. I'm so sorry I made you tell me."

"Sissel." Yomiel leaned over and hugged her tightly. "I love you more than anything in the world. I'm so lucky to have you."

"I love you too," Sissel whispered, burying her face in his chest and closing her eyes. She hardly dared imagine just what had happened in that other time. She wasn't interested in knowing why he knew the name of some person belonging to that foreign organization who was currently threatening them either. It undoubtedly had something to do with the time that no longer existed and it didn't matter to her what kind of person he might have become. "There's just one more thing I would like to know if that's alright. Who was it who saved us from the hitman?"

"It was Sissel... the kitten."

"He has the powers of the dead that the organization is after?" Sissel spoke in a shocked tone. "They don't know about it, do they? Would they really go after a cat?"

"Of course they would." Yomiel gently disengaged his hold on her and she saw the glum look on his face. "I'm sure they already know about it at this point. He's in danger and I can't even do anything about it. I just have to trust that those detectives will be able to protect him."

"You really care about him, don't you?"

"Yes. He's very dear to me."

"I hope he will be okay too. One day, this will be over and we can go back to our trouble free days, together." Sissel smiled. "I won't lose hope." She sank back into his arms and rested against him.

Yomiel stayed silent, kissing the top of her head and stroking her soft hair. He was truly grateful to her for being understanding. Those ten years were too painful to think about, let alone share with her.

x-o-x-o-x

"Rats!" Lynne found herself facing a brick wall. A garbage can lay on its side, its contents spilling out over the ground. "I thought we had the suspect when he went down this alleyway. He must have jumped over the wall by climbing on top of the garbage can." She turned around, nearly stumbling over Sissel who was standing behind her. "Can't you use your ghost tricks to help me out here?"

"If we caught up to him again, I suppose I could use them to slow him down," the kitten replied.

"Hopefully someone else is on his trail right now." Lynne walked out of the alleyway, looking in both directions. "We have to catch him before he strikes again. How can anyone be so despicable as to rob vulnerable people?"

"Um, vulnerable people?"

Lynne started running down the road and Sissel quickly hurried after her. "Yeah, this guy's robbed a couple of houses belonging to the elderly in the past week and he struck again this afternoon. He made off with a valuable antique apparently."

"Old people, huh? So they make easy targets, it seems," Sissel said. "But, you know, I just wonder. Why aren't we looking for someone more important, like Cotts?"

Lynne gave an exaggerated sigh. "I can't just ignore other cases, Sissel. If I happen to stumble upon that guy, then I'll drag him into the station. Sorry, but he's not the only person committing crimes in this town."

"These past few days, I've really got a sense of how busy you detectives actually are."

"It must be a wonderful experience for you." Lynne glanced down at him. "Are you sure you're okay following me? I'm sure I could stuff you into my jacket pocket."

"It's fine. I don't even get tired."

"Alright, just do your best to keep up." Lynne turned round a corner, frantically scanning the area with her gaze. "Hmph, no sign of him. How come you wanted to come along anyway? Are you afraid I'll die?"

"Uh... you do kind of die a lot, but no. I really just wanted to see you working." (I must admit though, I wouldn't be surprised if that happened.)

"I think I know what to make for my new year's resolution," Lynne said, racing off. "Try harder not to die. It's actually getting a bit embarrassing."

(Death is EMBARRASSING to her?)

"Ugh! Just where did he go?" Lynne started off down a new street. There were few cars parked on the side of the road and nobody else was around. "I can't believe I lost him so easily." She slowed down and stopped, her shoulders slumping.

"You're not going to head back to the station and admit defeat, are you?"

"Of course not!" Lynne declared furiously, clenching her fists in determination. "I will catch him, today!"

(Good to see she's not giving up so easily.)

A car slowly pulled up onto the side of the road behind them. Lynne barely noticed it with her mind fixed on catching the defendant. Sissel heard the car door open and turned to look. A jolt of alarm ran through him as he saw a blue skinned man step out of the car, clutching a small object in one hand.

"Lynne! Look out!"

Lynne whirled around, gasping as the man started toward her. She immediately reached for her gun but he was quicker, bringing up his weapon and firing it straight at her chest. A crackling buzz filled the air as its prongs extended toward her, blue lightning dancing at its tips. Lynne screamed in pain as it struck her, her body jerking violently from the force of the currents running through her. She toppled to the ground, her head striking the ground with a sharp crack. Her eyes slid shut.

"Lynne!" Sissel cried out again, jumping into the Ghost World. "Huh? She's not dead? It seems she's only unconscious. What in the world did that man do to her? This is bad! What do I do now? I can't run off and leave her alone!"

Three other men were now exiting the car. Like the man who had attacked Lynne, they all had blue skin.

"Don't forget to grab the cat! He's the one we're really after. We'll take that lady detective as well."

"Lynne, come on, wake up!" Sissel mewed furiously into her ear. In an act of desperation, he tried sinking his teeth into her arm in the vain hope the pain might rouse her. A shadow fell over him and he looked up to see a small bag descending over his head. In the next instant, everything was dark. Switching back to the Ghost World, he saw the man who held the bag with his body inside securely knotting it.

"Should I go and get help? No, I can't do that. If I leave now, Lynne and my body will be taken away and I'll have no idea where they are." (Why didn't I just stay at the police station? I was too curious... come to think of it, how did that phrase go? Curiosity killed the cat? Well, if the Temsik fragment is removed from my body, it WILL become a corpse.) Sissel gulped.

Lynne and the bag containing Sissel were swiftly thrown into the trunk. The men got back into the car and it sped off down the street.

"We're on the move now. I hope Lynne wakes up soon." Sissel worked on manipulating the bag's strings until he was able to wriggle out of the bag. He crawled over to Lynne and sat there, waiting for her to regain consciousness. (What did that man do to knock her out? She definitely wasn't shot.)

A while had passed before Lynne started to come round. Her eyes weakly fluttered open. "Huh? Why is it dark?" she mumbled.

"You're finally awake," Sissel said in relief. "I was wondering if you would ever come to."

"Sissel?" Lynne reached out with a hand, her fingers brushing against his soft fur. "Wait a minute. That sound... don't tell me we're inside the trunk of a car? Now I remember. That man hit me with a taser and I fell down." Her voice was beginning to sound panicked. "We're in really big trouble now! What are we going to do?"

"Try and keep calm, Lynne. Panicking won't help matters. There must be some way we can get out of this."

"Right." Lynne took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Maybe you could open the trunk? It's a really risky plan, but at this point we don't have much else to lose."

"Are you suggesting we jump out of a moving car?" (That doesn't sound like a good idea, but I'll see what I can do.) Sissel left his body and went to possess the trunk. It refused to budge no matter how hard he tried to open it. "Darn. It must be locked."

Lynne reached a hand to the holster on her hip, finding it empty. "My gun is gone. Hey, Sissel, was there just the one guy in the car?"

"No, there were four of them," replied the kitten.

"And they will probably all be armed." Lynne gave a frustrated groan. "I should have been more careful back there. I was so caught up in catching the suspect and I wasn't expecting those foreigners to suddenly pop out of nowhere. If only I had been quicker to draw my gun."

"It all happened so fast. You can't blame yourself for not being prepared," Sissel said. "I should have just stayed at the police station."

"We really have a knack of getting into troublesome situations, don't we?" Lynne muttered. She put her arms around him and pulled him to her chest. "We'll think of a way out of this. We have to. Come to think of it, how did they manage to grab you? You must have tried to run away, right?"

"Not really. I couldn't just leave you there."

"Oh, Sissel." Lynne sighed, her lips forming a smile. "You stayed there just for me? I do appreciate the thought but you really should have tried to escape. If they get what's inside you, there could be a lot of trouble."

"We'll just have to prevent that from happening then," Sissel stated. "I'm not giving up yet. I'll find a way somehow."

"Right. No matter how bad it looks, we shouldn't give up." Lynne quietened down, her forehead creasing in thought. "How long have we been in here anyway? Do you think they plan to take us to the submarine?"

"I can't really say, but I don't think it's been that long." (Is there some way I could stop the car?)

"You might end up crashing it," Lynne pointed out. "Maybe, if we were really, really lucky, all four men would end up unconscious or dead and the trunk would be popped open and I could escape. On the other hand, we might still be trapped and the car would explode with us inside."

(... I'm just not feeling that lucky.)

The sound of the engine was cut off abruptly and the rocking motions of the vehicle slowed down until they ceased altogether.

"Huh? Did the car just stop?" Lynne fell quiet, listening out. She heard car doors open and slam. "The men are getting out of the car?"

Sissel hopped back to the trunk to get a view of the outside. The car had drawn up at the side of a road. Vast expanses of grass surrounded them. The one single thing that drew his interest was a payphone. He returned to his body. "I don't see water anywhere so I guess we aren't going straight to the submarine. There's a payphone right next to the car."

"Really? That's great! But is there anything else you notice that you could use to identify the area so you can get help?"

"Let me see." Sissel went to check. "I think I see some towers in the distance. They have those spinning fans on top."

"Windmills? Okay, good. Anything else?"

"There's a signpost over there next to a path but of course I can't read it. I'll leave that to you if they plan on taking you out of the trunk. Oh, here they come."

Sissel jumped back into his body just as the men popped open the trunk. They grabbed hold of Lynne and roughly pulled her out.

"Keep quiet, lady, and we'll let you live, for a while anyway," one of the men holding her murmured into her ear.

"Hmph, she let the cat out. Good thing it didn't run off when we opened the trunk." A different man grabbed Sissel and stuffed him back into the bag, tightening the strings again. "I can't believe we actually went to the trouble of kidnapping a cat."

"Yeah, me neither. I wonder if that old commander is losing his marbles?" A derisive chuckle followed the question.

Sissel could only watch as Lynne was bound with ropes then dragged away from the side of the road and left to sit helplessly by a tree. He wished there was something he could do but there weren't many things he could use his tricks on and none of them were particularly useful for getting rid of four armed and dangerous men.

"So how about that sign?" Sissel reminded Lynne. "Did you get a look?"

"It said Gosho Nature Reserve. That place closed down a few years ago if I remember correctly," Lynne replied, "so there's not much chance of anyone coming by. Even if they did, they might just receive a bullet for their trouble. You're going to have to get word to Detective Jowd, and fast."

"I just hope the one other person who has a core is available right now." Sissel noticed one of their kidnappers heading toward the payphone. (Who is he going to call? His boss?) He zipped over to the phone to listen in.

On the other end of the line, Sissel saw Cotts sitting in the front seat of a car. "Who is it?" he spoke gruffly into the cell phone he held to his ear.

"I'm someone working for Commander Sith. He requested that we contact you after we had fulfilled our objective, namely capturing a certain kitten. You are to come and get it and deliver it to the submarine yourself. He is looking forward to seeing you as soon as possible."

"Oh, did you get it? Very good." Cotts started the car up, smiling in satisfaction. "I'll be coming over right away. Where are you?"

"Just outside some old nature park." The man glanced quickly at the sign. "Gosho Nature Reserve. Can you find it?"

"Sure. I'll be there soon." Cotts ended the call.

Sissel attempted to travel through the phone line, mostly to see where he was at that moment. "Huh, that's strange. For some reason, I can't access his phone. It was a pretty strange looking phone too." (Wait, what am I thinking about at a time like this? I've got to get to Yomiel!)

Fortunately for him, Yomiel was at home, sitting on the couch and watching the television.

"Yomiel! I need your help!"

"Let me guess, Lynne's dead again." Yomiel smiled wryly.

"No!" Sissel exclaimed. "Well, she might be soon, but..."

Yomiel's smile disappeared and his shoulders sagged. "Cotts again? Or the blue people? You know, I'm really sick of that guy. Do you know what he did today? The creep had the nerve to go to the hospital where Sissel works and tell her all these things about me, scaring her out of her wits! Why haven't the police found him yet? I can't believe he's getting away with all this. It's just not right."

(He looks pretty mad. So am I, actually. That Cotts is the reason so many people have been hurt. I heard the little lady wake up screaming from a nightmare last night. I'm sure it was because of that kidnapping.) Sissel pushed away the angry thoughts bubbling up inside him. Now wasn't the time to be dwelling on them. "Anyway, it's the blue people. I was out with Lynne and they grabbed both of us."

"What?" Yomiel looked horrified. "That can't be! How could Lynne let that happen?"

"She was focused on chasing down a suspect and they came out of nowhere. Don't blame her for it. Anyway, the men are parked outside... what was that name? Gosho Nature Reserve, I think. You need to contact Detective Jowd right away. I think he's still at the police station."

"Okay, I'll call him right away," Yomiel said. "How did they manage to capture you though? Didn't you try to run away?"

"Uh, well, Lynne was unconscious and I couldn't just leave her." Sissel lowered his ears guiltily. "I know, we can't afford the risk of them getting their hands on what's inside me but she could have died and even disappeared again. I can't face such a situation again."

"Really? I can understand why you chose to do that even if it wasn't the wisest decision at the time, but..." Yomiel paused, thinking over his words. "Sometimes you're going to have to make sacrifices and you won't always like it. That's just how life works. Lynne would have understood if you chose to escape, you know."

"But I'm sure things can work out, with your help. If you call Detective Jowd, I'm sure we can be saved!"

"I certainly hope so for your sake." Yomiel hurried to the phone and picked up the handset.

(Did I really do the right thing?) Sissel wondered. (They could get the fragment now and my body could become a corpse. But, Lynne... I don't want to give up on her. Fate seems to have it in for her but I swore I would counter it every time. The idea of her dying for good is just too depressing.) He listened in as Yomiel called the police station.

Detective Jowd came to the phone when called. "Hello? Detective Jowd here."

"It's Yomiel. Those foreigners have got a hold of Sissel and Lynne."

"They what?" Jowd exclaimed. "Where are they?"

"Near Gosho Nature Reserve. It seems they parked there temporarily," Yomiel said. "You had better hurry." He set the phone down. "You should get back in case they leave, Sissel. If you lose your body, it will surely all be over."

"Yeah. I'll see you later then, I suppose." Sissel hurried back through the phone line. The scene that greeted him was mostly the same as when he left. The foreigners were hanging out by the car and Lynne was still sitting up against the tree.

"Yomiel just called Detective Jowd. The police should be here soon," Sissel told her. "They aren't going to be the only ones on the way though. Cotts is as well and it seems he will personally take me to Commander Sith."

"And what's going to happen to me?" Lynne's face clouded over and she sighed. "Never mind. I think I know already. You know, saving me from death won't be easy in this situation."

(She's right. We're up against four armed and very dangerous men and there aren't a lot of things to use my ghost tricks on.) Sissel got that sinking feeling. (The police had better get here before she dies.)

"You should try to escape while you still have a chance," Lynne suggested in a wavering voice. "You could run and hide somewhere."

"I don't think so. My body is inside that bag, remember? And that man is holding on to it. Besides, I can't leave while you're still in danger."

"Sissel." Lynne looked at him seriously. "I know you want to protect me, but guarding that meteorite fragment is much more important. Thinking of all those things that organization could do with the powers of the dead is frightening. The world as we know it could change. I really don't want that to happen. You must keep it out of their hands, no matter what. Even if it means losing those you care about."

"Lynne..." Sissel wanted to protest, but he knew deep down that she was right.

"You've done so much for me and I'm really grateful." Lynne smiled. "But this is a hopeless situation, isn't it? Even if you stayed here, I don't know if you can save me. Maybe this is the end of the line for us." She took a breath and let it out slowly. Her eyes were glinting. "Anyway, we can still see each other again if I die. Do your best to keep your body safe, Sissel. I don't think I could forgive myself if anything happened to you."

"Don't talk like that," Sissel said sharply. He didn't want to hear this. "I'm sure the police will come in time. It will be okay. I'm not giving up yet."

"Yeah, you're right, it's too soon for such pessimism." Lynne forced another smile. "I'm just kind of scared right now, even when I stopped fearing death. Not just because I might die for real, but because of what might happen to you. If only I had been paying attention."

(She feels really bad about it,) Sissel thought. (Who could have thought things could suddenly turn out so badly?)

"Hmm, that's weird." The man holding onto the bag spoke. "This cat hasn't moved in a while. I wonder if it's dead?"

"There must be something odd about that cat. Why else would the commander want it? I'm not even sure what he's thinking."

"Anyway, we shouldn't be standing around here chatting. Why don't we get started on digging a grave for that lady there? Then we'll just kill her and stick her in the ground."

"They are going to bury me?" Lynne shivered, looking disturbed. "It's a good thing they are putting off killing me though. The police might actually get here before I die."

"Right now, they are our only hope." (I just can't see how I could possibly save Lynne from getting killed. Even if I did something about their guns, they could just find another way to kill her.)

The young detective watched on with wide eyes as the men took shovels out of the vehicle. "Awfully prepared, aren't they? They must have planned this all out. Finding you with as few people around as possible, taking anyone you happened to be with along, then just getting rid of the extra person. Luckily for us, they didn't bank on you going to get help."

"They were waiting for the perfect opportunity and they seized it. We should have been more careful."

"Yeah, we really should." Lynne looked away from the sight of the men digging into the ground. She didn't particularly want to watch her own grave being dug. "I'm not used to people leaping out of cars and firing tasers at me. Then I had to go and get knocked out from the fall. Some detective I am, huh?" Her mouth twisted ruefully.

"You're still a rookie, aren't you? I'm sure you'll get better with time," Sissel said.

Lynne rolled her eyes. "Was that supposed to make me feel good about myself?"

"Anyway, if that guy hadn't been so quick, I'm sure the situation would have been different."

"Even if I had shot him, I don't think his friends would have been shy about shooting at me. We were screwed to start with." Lynne shook her head, sighing. "I shouldn't have let you come with me."

"They would have found a way to get to me sooner or later. I'm actually glad they didn't go bursting into Detective Jowd's house with guns at the ready. Kamila doesn't need any more scares."

"I promised Kamila I wouldn't let them get you." Lynne lowered her head until her eyes were almost hidden behind her bangs. "She will be really sad if you don't return home. So, do your best to escape their clutches and return home, alright? Oh, I forgot about Missile. If I don't come back, well, be sure to break the news to him gently."

"I won't have to," Sissel said firmly. "Because you will be coming home too." (Missile worked so hard to save Lynne and Kamila. I can't let it all be in vain.)

A car engine could be heard in the distance, growing louder by the second. Lynne and Sissel looked around for the source, their hopes lifting as they anticipated the arrival of the police. Their hopes were quickly dashed however when an unfamiliar car stopped by the road and Cotts stepped out.

"It's me, Cotts," he said quickly as one of the men aimed a gun threateningly. "So you have the cat? I wish to see it."

The bag was offered to him and he opened it up, pulling out Sissel's body. "Ah, yes, this is the right one. Good work." Cotts stuffed it back inside. He turned around, regarding Lynne with a nasty grin. "Such a pity, isn't it? A young woman who's just become a detective, about to die."

"You know what I think of you?" Lynne's eyes flashed and her mouth set in anger. "You are a creep and a complete idiot. How could you think that somebody who was just a child would have known what was going on in that park? You told Commander Sith to go after me, didn't you?"

"But you do know, don't you?" Cotts said accusingly. "You even told me that this kitten wasn't the same one I saw ten years ago. Why would you say that unless you had something to hide?"

Lynne dropped her gaze, unable to come up with a response. "Why are you doing all this anyway? Is it really just to get some answers?"

"Well, since you're about to die, I suppose it doesn't matter if I tell you. Even though I didn't understand what was happening before me, I was amazed. There was something unseen, performing such acts before my very eyes. Imagine if I could go wherever I wanted without anyone being able to see me, even being able to control things. It would certainly be interesting."

"What? You wanted to get them for yourself?" Lynne asked in disbelief. "Do you even know what-" She cut herself off. "You are despicable."

"I wonder if he would change his mind if he knew he had to die in the presence of radiation from a meteorite," Sissel said. "He might have figured out it has something to do with the meteorite, but I don't know about the dying part."

"He's been obsessing over this for ten years. I have a feeling he won't change his mind about it so easily. So..." Lynne looked sad. "He's going to take your body away now. I guess this is it then. You need to go with your body after all."

Sissel felt utterly dismayed. "Then that means I have to leave you here at the mercy of those men?"

"Well, yeah." Lynne swallowed thickly, forcing back the lump forming in her throat. Tears were prickling the back of her eyes. "As long as I'm not dead, there's still hope. It's not myself I'm worried about anyway. You have to escape, no matter what."

"I don't really want to go like this but I don't have a choice," Sissel said reluctantly. Fear and dread welled up inside of him. Not only was Lynne facing death, but his body was about to be taken to the submarine. If Sith got that fragment, it would be bad news for everybody. "I'm sure we're going to see each other again. This isn't the end."

"Then I look forward to our next meeting." Lynne put on a cheerful smile which didn't quite reach her eyes. "I won't say goodbye. Good luck, friend."

Sissel moved over to his body. He stole one last look at Lynne, sitting forlornly against the tree, before the bag was tossed into the car.

Lynne watched the car rev up and drive away through the tears that blurred her vision. "Sissel," she whispered in a quivering voice. Would she really see him again, in his own body and not just as the spirit? He was very capable but still she was afraid for him. An image of him trapped and alone on that dreaded submarine rose in her mind and she felt a deep pang in her chest.

"Okay, this hole looks deep enough now. We'll just kill her and stick her in the ground now, shall we?"

"I'll take care of her."

Lynne looked up to see a man walking over to her. He placed a hand on her hip, giving her a cold smile. "Well, your time is up. Now you're going to die, I'm afraid." He took the pistol from the belt at his waist and aimed it squarely at her forehead.

Ice cold fear ran through the detective's veins, chilling her entire body as she looked straight into the muzzle of the gun. For the first time in a long while, she was actually afraid to die.

Lynne squeezed her eyes shut and waited, dreading the moment her life would be taken from her again. Maybe forever, she thought dismally. At least there was still a chance she could see Sssel again.

A loud bang ricocheted through the air.


	10. Chapter 10

The sharp flash of pain as the searing hot bullet penetrated her body accompanied by the brief whiff of gunpowder was such a familiar experience for Lynne, having been struck by a bullet so often. It came as a surprise when she didn't even feel it striking her body, let alone experience that sudden pain. Something hit the ground in front of her, making a heavy thudding sound as it did so. There were further shots, accompanied by loud shots.

It occurred to Lynne that she hadn't been shot after all but was in fact still alive. That shot hadn't been from the man's gun but someone else's. She cracked her eyes open and her gaze fell upon the man who had been about to shoot her. He was lying flat on the ground with scarlet fluid oozing from a small hole in his head.

The other foreigners had quickly reached for their guns the moment they saw their partner fall but it was too little, too late as their unseen attacker was even faster and they were taken down in less than a minute. Now they were all flat on the ground and no longer a threat to anyone.

Lynne released the breath she had been holding in a loud whoosh, relieved to see that things had turned out in her favour after all. She looked around for the shooter and saw Jowd and Cabanela racing over, flanked by a few police officers.

"Inspector Cabanela! Detective Jowd!" The young detective's face split in a grin at the sight of her rescuers. "You came just in time."

"Are you okaaay?" Cabanela knelt down next to her and got to work on untying the rope around her arms and legs. "I sure hope they didn't hurt you, baby."

"Oh, I'm fine. One of those creeps jumped out of the car all of a sudden and got me with a taser. It was such a painful experience and I don't want to be hit by one ever again." Lynne grimaced as she rubbed her chafed wrists. The ropes had left angry red marks on the surface. "They took my gun off me. It might be inside that car."

"I'm glad to see you're okay, Lynne." Jowd looked around. "Where is Sissel? Is he in the car?"

Lynne was being helped to her feet by the inspector. That long ordeal had left her muscles feeling stiff and sore and her body was aching in protest. Her face fell at the mention of Sissel's name. "He's gone." The redhead stared at her feet, her shoulders slumping under the weight of her guilt. "Cotts came by and took his body to the submarine. Sissel had no choice but to go with it." Her eyes sparkled with fresh tears. "He's gone and there was nothing I could do about it. We've lost him." A faint sob burst through her lips.

"Don't worry." In spite of how bad the situation was looking, Jowd had a smile on his face. "We were prepared for something like this." Lynne raised her head, giving him a questioning look. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a slender golden chain, pulled down by the weight of the round piece of metal hanging on it.

Lynne gasped. "Is that what I think it is?"

"It's a radio receiver disguised as a pocket watch. That was a smart idea of his, wasn't it? I'm surprised I didn't cooome up with it myself," Cabanela said. "Jowd asked me to make one all of a sudden. Not only that, but he also asked me to make a radio transmitter disguised as a bullet."

"And that bullet is inside Sissel's body right now?" Lynne covered her mouth. "Did he know about this?"

"I actually put the bullet in while he was away," said Jowd. "I didn't want to give him cause for concern. This was only supposed to be a last resort in case the worst happened and now it has."

"Well, I wish you had told me about this sooner!" Lynne spread her arms, annoyance briefly registering on her face. She would have been a lot more at ease had she known there was a way to track Sissel down all along. "Do you have any idea how worried I was? And poor Sissel! He must be afraid we've lost him forever."

"I'm sure that Sissel will be able to take care of himself for the moment with his ghost tricks. He is very capable," Jowd said. "Of course we shouldn't be wasting time standing around like this. The sooner we catch up, the better. Well, on the bright side, we should be able to find that submarine now. Not that I was ever actually thinking of using Sissel as bait, mind you."

"Could one of you boys be so kind as to check the car for her guuun, please?" Cabanela asked of the police officers standing by. While they searched for it, he scrutinised the scene before them. Not one of the fallen men had moved so much as a muscle since they arrived on the scene and took them down. "It looks like we took care of them all. I wonder how many more of these bad boys will be waiting for us at that submarine? I'm itching to take them aaall down!"

"Is it just us going to the submarine?" Lynne inquired, looking doubtful. Sure, they were capable detectives, but she had a feeling they were going to need more people around if they were going to actively take down everyone on the submarine. Last time she went in there, there had only been crew workers around and they hadn't been much of a threat. This time could be different.

"I'll call for backup when we get there," Cabanela assured her. "No doubt Commander Sith is prepared for something like this."

"Are you going to be alright with going on the submarine?" Jowd asked her with obvious concern. "Considering how you got stranded in there, it might be unsettling."

"Honestly, just the idea of setting foot in there again gives me the chills but I'm not going to back down when Sissel is in danger," Lynne declared. "I feel partly responsible for him being taken too so this is my way of making it up to him."

"I've found it." One of the police officers emerged from the car, holding Lynne's pistol in his hand. He walked over to give it to her. "Here you go, Detective."

"Thanks." Lynne took the pistol and slid it back into her holster. She clenched her fists, thrusting them in the air. "Okay, let's go!"

x-o-x-o-x

The loud drone of the car's engine sounded very ominous. Every second Sissel spent lying in the bag listening to it was a second closer to the end. Despite the ever increasing danger he was in, it wasn't foremost on his mind. He was almost sick with worry, wondering if Lynne had managed to make it out of that situation alive. The cat wished so badly that he could just have stayed with her but at that time, he had no choice. He had to give up on her just so he could protect what was in his body. It was very disheartening to think about.

"Hello?" Cotts was speaking loudly over the sound of the engine. "Yes, it's me. I'm just letting you know that I'm on my way over there right now."

"He must be talking to Commander Sith." Sissel left his body and jumped into the phone Cotts was holding into his ear. He noticed the lack of a glowing line running from the phone. (What a strange phone. Not that I should be wondering about trivial matters like this right now.) At the other end, he could see the commander sitting in his chair.

"I trust that you remembered to pick the cat up on your way?" inquired the bushy eyebrowed man.

"Of course I did. I'm not an idiot," Cotts said sharply. "It's safely tied up in a bag and won't be going anywhere anytime soon in its position. I will be sure to get it to you as soon as possible."

"Splendid!" Commander Sith smiled widely, showing off his rows of teeth. "I am so close to being able to find out the truth behind those powers now. It's so very exciting, isn't it?"

"Yes, I feel the same way. I have been waiting ten years for this," Cotts said. "Ten years is such a long time after all. I'm sure you are looking forward to utilising these powers as soon as possible."

"They would be very valuable," Sith agreed, nodding his bald head. "Just the ability to move around unseen would be useful for spying on others. And that invincibility? I could make the best army in the world. Just thinking about it leaves me thrilled."

"That's nice and all but don't forget I want a share of this as well. Those powers will also be mine."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Sith flapped a hand dismissively. "Of course I am going to uphold my end of the deal. You do trust me, don't you?"

"Of course I do."

"Didn't he just say he wasn't an idiot?" Sissel said. "Well, whatever Commander Sith has got in store for him, I'm not going to be feeling very sorry for him when he goes and gets stabbed in the back."

"Good. I expect to see you as soon as possible. Do remember to be careful, won't you? I'm sure that cat was responsible for disposing of my hitmen when they were on the job. It would be simply terrible if you had to meet their fate."

"I assure you that won't happen. See you later." Cotts hung up and put the phone away, chuckling to himself. "Heh heh. I really can't wait to get those powers for myself. Just imagine all the things I could do around people who can't even see me." His lips stretched in a nasty grin.

"I can't just do nothing while my body is in peril." Sissel tried to think of something he could do. All the windows and doors were shut so sneaking out of the car wouldn't be easy. He was pretty sure Cotts would notice him opening a window. A sneak attack on him might not have the desired effect either. "I'll have to use my ghost tricks to do something about this. What I need to do is stop this car from getting to the submarine somehow. Come to think of it, Lynne was worried about the idea of me interfering with the vehicle we were being taken away in earlier. Something about the risk of it crashing and exploding?" (Crashing and exploding definitely sounds good, but I should watch him for a bit first so that I can learn more about how these things work.)

Sissel paid close attention to every little thing Cotts did while he was driving. The steering wheel he clutched in his hands looked very important. It seemed it was used for controlling the direction in which the car was going. Then there were his feet. They were positioned just above three pedals. At one point, the car halted in front of a railway crossing just as a train was passing by. He saw how one of the pedals was pressed down right before the car came to a stop. Once the train had gone, the foot switched to another pedal and the car shot off.

"Hmm. The car seems to go faster when he's pushing that particular pedal. I bet it could go even faster than it is right now." (He's actually going really fast already. I suppose he just can't wait to get to that submarine.)

Cotts glanced out of the window. "Ah, we're nearly there now," he muttered, pushing down the pedal yet again and causing the car to pick up speed.

The sight of the sea on the horizon gave Sissel a burst of a renewed fear. "Oh no, I'm running out of time! But what am I supposed to crash the car into? There's nothing around here." He moved to the wing mirror to get a better look outside. At this point, the car was running parallel to a steep, jagged cliff. (Hmm, cliffs are pretty dangerous to fall down, aren't they?)

There was no time to waste. It was incredibly risky to be using his ghost tricks in front of someone who was already aware of them but at this point, he didn't have much of a choice. Hopefully, the element of surprise would work in his favour.

"Alright, here we go. This had better work!" Sissel possessed the steering wheel and gave it a sharp wrench to one side. Cotts was so startled by the sudden movement that his hands momentarily slipped from the wheel and the car began to spin out of control.

"No!" The man's face started to take on a chalky complexion and his eyes grew wide in horror. "Stop!"

Sissel jumped to the accelerator in the next instant and forced it down. The car shot off over the edge of the cliff, sailing into the air. Cotts' scream of horror was drowned out by the sound of crunching metal as the car bounced against the rocky wall on its descent.

"DAMN YOU, CAT!"

To Sissel, it felt like an eternity was spent waiting for the car to finish falling. At last, it hit the sand down below. The deafening noise that resulted from the impact was enough to send nearby seagulls flapping up into the air, squawking in alarm. The car was engulfed by a large ball of glowing flame and at the same time there was a thunderous boom.

"Ah, that went well," Sissel commented with immense satisfaction. It was good to see that his risky plan had worked. He didn't even need to check to make sure that Cotts was no longer a problem. The next thing to do was to free his body from the bag which wasn't going to be too much of a problem considering he had done it before.

The entire car was engulfed in a thick wall of flame and there was smoke everywhere. Fortunately, being able to see and find his way round wasn't a issue in the Ghost World.

"Now all that's left to do is escape this twisted wreckage and attempt to find my way back home."

x-o-x-o-x

Commander Sith was just about to pluck another grape off the bushel he was holding and pop it into his mouth when he heard a loud buzz. "Egad! I wish that wouldn't happen when I was eating! Supposing I had just put a grape in my mouth? It could have popped down my gizzard and got stuck."

"Sorry about that, sir. It must be one of our patrol units calling in. I'll put him through right now." The muscled servant tapped on the control panel. A second later, the screen on the wall showed a blue man.

"Hello, commander? I was patrolling outside on the beach when I noticed something happen. It might be nothing but I thought I should at least bring it to your attention."

"Well then, spit it out, man! Don't keep me waiting in suspense!"

"It's just that I saw a car come flying off the cliff and hit the ground where it exploded. It could have just been some careless drunk though." The man's face registered surprise when Sith burst out laughing.

"If that was caused by what I think it was, then it must be a very smart cat indeed. Well, I'm not terribly bothered. It saves me from having to have Cotts killed myself. It's hardly possible he could have survived a fall down the cliff." Commander Sith tossed the grapes back into the bowl and directed his gaze at his servant. "Send some men out to retrieve that cat and bring it here immediately."

"Yes, I will do that at once, sir."

x-o-x-o-x

Sissel crawled through a small gap between the broken window and the ground. It was a good thing he couldn't feel the small shards of glass that his body was brushing against. He pulled himself free from the debris and began walking away. The kitten only paused briefly to look back at the burning wreckage. A giant plume of smoke was rising steadily up into the air.

"I bet that smoke could be seen for miles," Sissel said in awe. He surveyed the area. There really wasn't much to see, just the long reaching stretch of sand, the sheer cliff wall and the sea gently lapping up on the beach. "It's so quiet and there's nobody around. I suppose there wouldn't be considering how late it's getting." His eyes slid to look toward the setting sun dipping down, casting its golden rays over the evening sky. "It's going to get dark soon. I wonder if the police are looking for me right now? Lynne must be as well, if they got to her in time. I wish there was a way to find out right now but there aren't any phones here. Well, there's nothing for me to do but start walking, I suppose."

The kitten padded off along the beach, gazing around his surroundings all the while. To start with, he was going to have to find a way to get back to the top of that cliff. After that, things would be a little tricky. He wasn't really sure which direction home was in or how far he would have to walk and there was the risk of taking the wrong roads and ending up even more lost than he already was. Perhaps he would be lucky enough to find an establishment and learn its name. Then it would be a simple matter of telling Yomiel, or Lynne, if she was still alive and safe. Phones were never too hard to find, it seemed.

The sound of an engine in the distance caught Sissel's attention. The noise was gradually growing louder as if it was coming right toward him and he looked up, seeking out the source of that sound. A strange looking craft was hovering in the air and coming right at him. To his horror, he realised that the people sitting inside it had blue skin, which meant they were almost certainly Sith's men. It would be ridiculous to think otherwise.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me! How did they even know where I was?" Sissel turned around and broke into a run. Maybe they hadn't actually spotted him yet. If he could just get away and find somewhere to hide, he might be safe for the time being.

"Hey, look! There it is!"

"Give me a break already!" Sissel yelled in frustration, running even faster. This was really not his lucky day. Why couldn't something go right for him for a change? It was looking like the gods had it in for him, though he couldn't imagine why.

The engine's noise was becoming louder with each passing second, suggesting that the craft was doing a very good job in keeping up and was in fact gaining on him. Sissel didn't even bother jumping into the Ghost World for a second to see how close it was now. He was afraid of what he might see.

One of his pursuers was pulling out a thick barrel shaped object from inside the vehicle. He aimed it squarely at the running kitten and pushed the trigger located on the bottom. A large metal clamp extended from the device and shot out to wrap tightly around Sissel's body, arresting his escape.

"No!" Sissel twisted around furiously inside the vice. He was lifted clean off the sand and dangled uselessly in the air, unable to free himself. The metal clamp was withdrawn and a pair of blue hands closed around his waist, holding on to him securely. He was then forced into a metal box and the lid latched securely. The hovercraft turned around and sped back to the submarine. (Great, just great. And I was feeling so proud of myself for that little stunt with the car too. I shouldn't even have bothered.)

It was looking like there was no hope left for him. Sissel lay still inside the box, listening out for the various sounds of activity and lounging in the throes of despair. Despite all his efforts and those of everyone who had done their best to look out for him, it seemed like his fate was set in stone. Just like Yomiel, he was going to end up getting the fragment removed from his body.

"Is that really true? Is that how things are going to turn out for me in the end?" Sissel wondered dismally. "The odds are stacked against me. It looks so hopeless but I suppose I can't just give up yet. No, I won't give up until they have plucked it from my body." (And I'll do everything in my power to stop that from happening. This is my last chance.)

"So you've got the cat?" For the first time, Commander Sith's voice gave Sissel a nasty chill. It wasn't pleasant knowing that he was at this man's mercy. "Excellent. Let me take a look."

There was a soft thud as the box was set down on the table. Light filled the box as the lid was lifted up and Sissel found himself looking up at the commander's grinning face. He would have liked to give him a good swat in the face with his claws but that probably wasn't going to help his situation any so he settled for hissing loudly.

"Good gracious! The cat is hissing at me." Sith recoiled in surprise. "It looks like he's actually aware of what's going on despite the fact he's just a common animal. Well, I know he's no ordinary cat." He reached inside and lifted Sissel up by his scruff, removing him from the box. "He must be the reason I've lost so many men. Well, I'm not going to lose any more of them."

"We should be careful, sir," the robot cautioned. "Who knows what he might try to do to us?"

"Bah! I know that of course!" Sith snapped. "But nothing will stop me getting at what is inside of him. A meteorite fragment, wasn't it? It must be the reason why he's so special. A mere bullet couldn't even harm him. We should at least see this special quality of his for ourselves. Can I have something sharp?"

"Just a minute, sir." Sissel heard the familiar tapping and a heavy thump as the servant's hand swiped against the control panel. The next thing he knew, a robotic arm was brandishing a knife, its sharp blade glinting wickedly as it caught the light.

Sith set the kitten down on the table, holding him down firmly with one hand. With the other hand, he took the knife and pressed its point against Sissel's body. With a heavy thrust, the blade slid cleanly in without severing the flesh. He yanked it back out, amazed to see that there was no blood. "Egad," he muttered in amazement, shaking his head.

"He's reminding me of that old pigeon guy. Except I would much rather be in the pigeon guy's lab than in here." Sissel watched Sith drive the blade of the knife into his body a few more times. "Seriously, hasn't he had enough of this yet? It's too bad I can't try and bite him or something, not in this position. He might let go and then I could run for it."

"Cotts was right. This really is a very special creature," Sith commented. "Just think, I wouldn't even need to have an army. Just a few people with this incredible invincibility would be enough. My enemies would surrender in no time at all when they realised they couldn't do anything to my men. Not only that, but my men would have no trouble disposing of them, just like this cat here was so easily able to get rid of my hitmen."

(It wasn't that easy! And Tengo was the only one I actually dealt with. Lynne dealt with Jeego when I went back in time and warned her, and the police got the third guy. Admittedly, I don't think his men would have the same issues I did. I get the feeling he won't be concerned with saving people's lives like I usually am. Plus, being a cat, my body can only do so much.)

"Anyway, what am I going to do?" Sissel asked himself. "It's not like I could just go and blow this submarine up, and I'm sure the commander will notice if I try to do anything. I don't think my ghost tricks will help me very much right now."

"Well then, it's time to take the fragment out and then we'll dispose of this cat. I don't want to keep this dangerous creature around any longer than necessary."

Sissel wanted to try and flee at that point but the commander still had a tight grip on his body, keeping him pinned against the table. He twisted his body as much as he could but it didn't seem possible to even swipe his claws at the eyebrowed man's hands. The robot was doing his usual thing with the control panel yet again. A set of metal clamps popped out from the table's surface and wrapped securely around Sissel's limbs, holding him in place. The commander lifted his hand away and Sissel attempted to pull himself free but the clamps were much too tight for him to wriggle free. There were no cores on them so manipulating them was out of the question.

Sith noticed his struggling and smiled in amusement. "Are you trying to escape? I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere, not until I have what's inside of you. We already have a handy tool available for extracting it. This is the moment that we've been waiting for." He rubbed his hands together, his eyes twinkling with glee. "Now do your thing, my good man."

Even though Sissel had seen the muscled servant tapping on that control panel so many times before, the sight of him doing it at that very moment horrified him. A small panel on the ceiling slid away and a metal claw came out, its pincers widening.

"It's got a core! Now if I could try to stop it in its tracks... yeah, it probably isn't going to do much good considering the danger I'm in right now but I have to at least try to do something." Sissel attached himself to the arm of the contraption. It was already stretching out, the claw inching ever closer to his body and preparing to remove the precious item inside. Sissel attempted to make it halt in its tracks but all it did was freeze in place and shudder slightly before moving again at a slower rate. (Ugh! This thing is really powerful. It's taking so much effort just for me to try and hold it back, and even that doesn't seem to be working very well.)

"What's up with that thing?" Sith asked. "It's acting a bit funny."

"Maybe the cat doesn't appreciate you trying to remove what's inside of him," his servant suggested. "I imagine that he's trying to stop you from doing that right now."

"Well, he doesn't seem to be doing a very good job." Sith smirked. "In just a few short moments, I'll have that valuable meteorite fragment in my hand. I can't wait."

Sissel continued to struggle in his efforts to hold off the treacherous metal arm. He was able to pull it back and it halted for a few seconds before moving down once more.

"I can't stop this thing," Sissel said, his horror mounting. His fate was starting to become all too clear to him. This piece of metal was going to reach into his body, withdraw the fragment and then that would be it. His body would just be a useless corpse. He wouldn't be able to keep it anymore.

His life as a family cat would disappear. He wouldn't really be living with them without a body. They couldn't see him as a ghost or even hear him. Lynne and Yomiel could, so he supposed he wouldn't be completely alone, but he didn't want to be a mere ghost. He wanted to keep his body.

It was strange. Even though he was kind of dead, his life was flashing before his eyes. The simple moments he had enjoyed as a cat came back to him. If he lost his body now, all that was going to disappear.

"Is it really over?" Sissel felt numb thinking about it. "Even after all that hard work, is this really what it amounts to? If I was going to lose my body in the end, I might as well just have handed myself over. I don't want this to happen, I really, really don't, but there's nothing I can do."

He reluctantly unfroze time and desperately tried once more to hold back the arm. It moved at an agonisingly slow place, determined to carry out its duty. No matter what he did, it would keep going.

"Nooooooo!" Sissel wailed.

It was no good. He couldn't save himself after all.

It was all over.

"SISSEL!"

Sissel couldn't believe what he was seeing. Lynne had suddenly come running into the room and leaped up on top of the table, covering his body with her own. She winced as the claw clamped down on her waist.

"Just where did she come from?" the robotic servant wondered.

"That's my line," said Sissel. He was overjoyed to see that not only was Lynne alive, but there was a chance of being saved now. All hope wasn't completely lost. (Seriously, how did she get here? Maybe I passed out from the shock and this is a dream. Nah, that couldn't be.)

"Heh." Lynne had a big smile plastered on her face. "It looks like it's my turn to save you, Sissel."

"Great Scott!" Sith leaped several feet in the air, startled by the detective's sudden appearance. "How did you even manage to get here?"

"Oh, hello. You must be Commander Sith. What a pleasure to meet you at last." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm as she spoke to him. In a flash, the redhead had whipped out the gun at her waist and jammed it into the eyebrowed man's forehead. Her smile had disappeared and her face was twisted with anger. "Now put that thing away and let Sissel go... or I'll blow your brains out!"

"Whoa!" Sissel was taken aback by her sudden mood change. Even if it was for his benefit, seeing her this angry was still a little bit scary. The fury she had shown toward that serial killer upon catching him had been nothing compared to the wrath emanating from her right now. "I've never seen her this mad before."

Sith's mouth hung slack as he stared into her rage filled eyes and his body started quivering like jelly. He let out a tremulous whimper and struggled to speak. "She's serious, man! This crazy woman is really going to kill me! Hurry up and do what she says!"

"Of course, sir." Despite the danger that Sith's life was in right then, the servant did not seem alarmed in the least. Sissel wondered if that had something to do with him being a robot. After he tapped and swiped the control panel, the vice released Lynne and withdrew into the ceiling. The panel was activated again and the clamps around Sissel's limbs disappeared back into the table.

"Are you okay now, Sissel?" Lynne inquired, her voice soft with emotion. "Actually, that's a ridiculous question, isn't it? I'm sure the fragment is still inside of you."

"Yeah, but that was pretty close." Sissel released a sigh. Even though he was a ghost, he still felt weary from the experience they had been through today. "If you hadn't turned up when you did, that would have been it. I've never been so scared before." He gazed at Lynne for a few seconds. "So you're still alive. I'm so glad."

"We've both had our fair share of close calls today." Lynne flashed him a rueful smile. "I was about to get a bullet in my brain when the police turned up."

"So how did you get here anyway?"

"Um, I'll explain later. Right now we need to get out of here."

Time was unfrozen as the conversation came to an end and Sissel noticed the servant was tapping on the control panel again. "What in the world is he doing now? He's already done as Lynne asked so there's no need to do anything else." (I've seen it used for so many things... I'm not sure what he could be planning on doing this time.)

Sissel hurriedly racked his brains, recalling all the times he had seen it used and what it had done then. It was unlikely he was bringing up the phone or the fruit bowl, and ejecting the control room didn't seem likely either with the commander present. There was one more function, and he was pretty sure that was what the servant was planning to do.

"Lynne, look out! There's a machine gun in the ceiling!"

"Huh?" Lynne twisted her head round to look up and saw the ceiling partition sliding away. In the next instant, a gun came sliding out of the hole and pointed at her. "Yikes!" She grabbed Sissel in her arms and leaped off the table, wasting no time in rolling underneath it. A hail of bullets rained down on the table, clattering loudly against the metal surface. Fortunately, none of them were able to penetrate it.

"Bah!" Commander Sith struck the table with his fist. "Some sneak attack that was. You're going to have to come up with something better than that."

"I apologise, sir. I didn't think she would realise what was happening so quickly." The servant tapped the panel and the gun slid back into the ceiling. "I suppose we shall have to dispose of her with a different method."

"You will do no such thing." Lynne came out from under the table and aimed her gun squarely at his face. "Put your hands up in the air right now."

"Well, don't dilly-dally." Sith leaned back in his seat with a smug grin on his face. "Show her what happens to pesky detectives who are too interfering for their own good."

"If I must, sir." The robot started taking slow, purposeful steps toward her.

"H-hey!" Lynne backed away, the pupils of her eyes shrinking. "What are you doing? Can't you see I'm pointing a gun at you?" She couldn't believe that he wasn't going to back down even with such a dangerous weapon aimed at him. Few people would do something so reckless and seeing this criminal act in this way alarmed her.

"What are you going to do, put a bullet in me? I'm afraid that I'm not intimidated by little things like bullets, Detective." He clenched a fist and started to draw it back, intending to hit her.

"This is your last warning! I'm going to shoot! Really, I mean it!"

"What is the matter with her? I don't know why she's so freaked out because he isn't afraid of bullets. After all, he's a... oh." Sissel realised that Lynne really wasn't aware of that fact, because nobody had told her. "Lynne? Sorry, there's something I should have told you sooner. He's a robot."

"Huh?" Lynne raised an eyebrow, staring at him in confusion. "Oh, you mean he's so cold and emotionless that he can't even feel fear, right?"

"Why don't you just go ahead and shoot him?" Sissel suggested. "Trust me, it will be fine." (I could swear I mentioned something about them having robots before. She must have forgotten. Well, that is quite understandable seeing as we've had a lot on our plates since then.)

Lynne shakily lowered the gun and took a deep breath, squeezing the trigger. The bullet flew out with a loud bang and buried itself in the servant's eye. The plastic surface in the eye of the mask was blown out, leaving a gaping hole. Undeterred by the bullet, the robot swung his fist straight toward her. Lynne was quick enough to dodge to the side and stumbled away until her back hit the wall.

"Oh." Lynne's mouth hung slack as she slowly absorbed the shocking truth. "That kind of robot."

"Honestly," Sissel said in exasperation, "what did you think I meant?"

"I've just never seen such a lifelike robot before, okay? So, bullets aren't going to hurt him very much, it seems."

The robot stomped toward Lynne, his fist coming in for another attack. Lynne released a shriek of alarm and ducked down, just barely avoiding the blow. The clenched fist drove straight into the wall, smashing a hole through it. Lynne scrambled out of his reach and stepped back. She stood perfectly still, staring at the hole. Her face had turned shockingly pale. The servant pulled his fist out and turned around to face her. She didn't move an inch even as he took slow, purposeful steps in her direction.

"What is she doing now?" Sissel asked, bewildered by her lack of action. "Lynne! Hey, Lynne!" He yelled at the top of his voice to try and get her attention. "What do you think you're doing? Don't just stand there!"

"But, that huge hole..." Lynne whispered, her voice quivering. The usually stoic detective appeared to be caught in the grip of fear. "Did you see what he just did to that wall?"

"Yeah, and I'm sure he's planning to do the same thing to your face. Is that what you want?"

"Well, no, of course not!" Lynne shook her head furiously. Her face had become shiny with sweat. "Sorry, it's just that I've never had to deal with a robot before and when I saw what his fist was able to do to that wall, I just froze up in fear and couldn't move."

"You're a detective," Sissel gently rebuked her. "You're not supposed to freeze up in fear."

"Yeah, I know. I wish you'd told me he was a robot sooner then I might have been prepared for this."

"Right, I should have told you. Sorry about that." Sissel turned his gaze to the frozen scene before him. "Well, while time is frozen, we should think of a strategy. I suppose bullets can't do very much to him."

"Hmm, I wonder." Lynne rubbed her chin, frown lines creasing her forehead. "Where is he getting his power from? There has to be something that's supplying it to him. Machines can't very well run on nothing."

"Power, huh? It definitely can't be coming from the same source as the control room's. The place lost all power when it was ejected from the submarine in the other time and yet the robot was still able to move around. Is that helpful?"

"So it might be powered by a battery then? I can't very well stand around and wait for the battery to run out." Lynne's forehead creased even more. "I never studied robotics sadly but there has to be some way to deal with that monstrous machine. Hey, if I can't hurt him externally then maybe I'm just going to have to try it internally. "Can any of his parts come off?" Her mouth curved in a sly grin.

"Actually, his head can," Sissel replied. (What sort of crazy plan is she cooking up? I think we should just run for it. That robot can't follow us out of the submarine, can it?)

"Okay, what I'm going to do will be pretty risky but if I die, you can always just rewind time and save me," Lynne said cheerfully.

"And you were doing so well at the not dying thing too." Sissel unfroze time, watching on nervously. He didn't like the sound of whatever it was Lynne was planning to do, especially if it was something that could kill her. (She certainly likes to take risks. The fact she has someone around who can save her life at any time doesn't help, I imagine.)

Lynne darted past her attacker and leaped up onto the table. Sith recoiled and threw his arms up before his face, believing that she was about to cause harm to him. Instead, she turned around and leaped across the room to land neatly on the servant's back. Her legs wrapped tightly around his thick waist and she clung onto his shoulders.

"What in the world does she think she's doing?" Sissel wondered, utterly stupefied by what was happening before his eyes. Why would Lynne want to get so close to him when he was the reason that her life was in peril? (It's not like her life has to be in peril right now. We could try simply leaving the room but I get the feeling she's determined to deal with him instead of running away. It must be a detective thing, I guess.)

Lynne wrapped her arms around the thick metal neck, just below the robot's chin and pulled up with a grunt of exertion. His head came loose with a satisfying pop and dropped to the floor with a heavy clunk.

"Confound it!" Sith yelled. A thick vein was bulging on his forehead. "Why are you having so much trouble sorting her out? Just hurry up and kill her already!"

"You seem to really enjoy ordering my death, don't you, Eyebrows?" Lynne said, her voice sharp with loathing. "Well, this time, nobody is killing me. Not if I can help it." The servant was now stumbling in circles and flailing his arms in an effort to get her off, but she clung on for dear life. "Take this!" The young detective thrust her gun into the hole between the robot's shoulders and started firing rapidly. She didn't stop until all the bullets had been used up.

The robot had come to a stop and his body was shuddering violently. Lynne dropped down and stepped back, watching in fascination as sparks flew out of the hole, accompanied by curling wafts of smoke.

"Great Scott! He's going to explode!" Commander Sith leaped off the chair and ran for the door.

"Is he?" Lynne seemed to suddenly realise the danger she was in and whirled around, racing out of the room. A few seconds later, the room was rocked by the impact of the robot exploding. When the blinding light from the explosion had faded, the control room was in shambles and there were pieces of scrap metal everywhere. There was hardly anything left of the robot itself and it was clearly not going to be a threat anymore.

"That was close. It would have been very embarrassing for Lynne to accidentally cause her own death." Sissel walked out the door and looked around, seeing Lynne slumped against the wall and breathing heavily.

The young redhead suddenly burst out laughing. Her body shook and tears came to her eyes. "I love being a detective!" she declared.

Sissel tilted his head, scarcely able to believe what he was seeing. "I can't believe she's laughing about this. Weren't we both in great danger just now?" He sought out Commander Sith, seeing him heading to the door at the other end of the room. "Um, Lynne, he's getting away."

The door suddenly opened and Detective Jowd stepped through. Sith stopped in his tracks and backed away.

"Ah, Commander Sith. I was hoping we would get to see each other face to face." Jowd drew back a fist and drove it squarely into the blue man's cheek. Sith collapsed to the floor in a faint. Saliva dribbled out of his mouth, tinted with blood. "If anyone asks, it was in self-defence," he said, winking at Lynne.

Lynne nodded, scarcely able to speak through her laughter. Eventually, she managed to quieten down and wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks. "That was fun, wasn't it, Sissel?"

"Your idea of fun is very different to mine." Sissel couldn't see why it had been necessary for her to put her own life at risk when she could simply have attempted to escape.

"Oh, come on. You would have blown him up too if you could." Lynne picked him up and stared intently into his amber eyes. "Right?"

"Uh... well, okay, I would have," Sissel admitted. "But it seemed like you weren't even expecting him to explode back there."

"Yeah. I was a little bit distracted by the fireworks." Lynne giggled sheepishly. "I've never done anything like that before so I didn't really know what was going to happen."

"Are you kidding me?" Sissel moaned. "You should think before doing something so dangerous!"

"What was that explosion I just heard?" Jowd had produced a pair of handcuffs and was fastening Sith's hands behind his back. "I would also like to know what you were finding so amusing."

"Oh, I caused Sith's robot servant to explode because he was trying to kill me. Sissel wanted me to just run for it and get away, but where's the fun in that?" Lynne pouted. "I should get to have a little excitement now and then."

"It was exciting? You froze up in fear," Sissel reminded her.

"That's just our secret, okay?" Lynne narrowed her eyes, giving him a warning look.

"Ah, Sissel. I take it he's fine?" Jowd came over and knelt down next to them, looking closely at the kitten. "He didn't lose the meteorite fragment, did he?"

"I got there just in time to stop it from happening. I wasn't the only one getting into a close shave today." Lynne hugged Sissel to her chest and stroked him. "You poor thing. You were really scared then, weren't you?"

"Shall we go back outside and join the others now that Sissel is safe? I bet you can't wait to get out of this submarine." Jowd got back up and went to pick up the still unconscious commander, slinging him over one shoulder. Lynne followed him to the exit ladder and they climbed up.

It was pitch black when they emerged from the submarine. Sissel looked up at the twinkling stars scattered across the night sky. "What a nice sight to come out to."

"I'm happy just getting to leave the submarine." Lynne clambered out onto the dock. Her boots clumped loudly on the wooden surface as she began walking back to the beach. "I'm never getting back in there if I can help it. I was afraid just to go inside but I had to save you, no matter what."

"So how did you find me anyway? You had no idea where the submarine was and yet you all managed to get here so quickly."

"Okay, before I tell you, just let me say I had absolutely no idea about this until after you had been taken. You know how we managed to track Yomiel down to the submarine? Yeah, that's how. Detective Jowd and Inspector Cabanela never even told me about it."

(It would have been nice if they told me. When did I even get a tracking device put in me anyway?) Sissel turned his gaze to the beach and saw police cars and vans lined across it, illuminated by spotlights. Police officers were walking around and he saw a few of Sith's men already in the vans. Jowd went up to one of the vans and tossed Sith into it.

"Things have turned out pretty well," Lynne said happily. "I'm sure Commander Sith isn't going to be a problem, for a long time anyway. Really, it depends on how long he gets put away for."

"Well, let's not trouble ourselves with what the future might bring." Sissel didn't particularly want to think about that. The present was all that mattered as far as he was concerned. "We've won this battle so that's enough, isn't it, Lynne?"

The redhead nodded. "We can go back to our regular trouble free days now and the only thing you'll have to worry about is me dying when I'm on the job. Speaking of not dying, I did a pretty good job, didn't I? It feels good to not die." She approached the vans, peering in curiously. "I don't see that Cotts guy anywhere. Is he still on the submarine?"

"You aren't the only one who's been blowing stuff up today. That tip about crashing and exploding cars was really helpful."

"So you crashed his car to stop him from taking you to the submarine?" Lynne blinked in puzzlement. "But in that case, how did you end up in there then?"

Sissel buried his face in her chest, his ears lying flat against his head. "It was really not my lucky day," he spoke tersely.

x-o-x-o-x

"What's wrong, Yomiel? You've barely touched your food. There isn't a problem with my cooking tonight, is there?"

Yomiel looked up from his place, seeing the evident concern on his fiancée's pretty face. "Oh, no, your cooking is as wonderful as always. It's not the food that's the problem." A deep sigh rose from his chest. "I'm just really worried, that's all." He couldn't stop thinking about Sissel being in danger, at the mercy of those blue men.

"So what are you worried about? Is it something do with... them?"

"Sissel is in really big trouble right now. The blue men got a hold of him." Yomiel set his utensils down and buried his face in his hands. "I wish there was something I could do. I want to be able to save him but what use would I be?"

"Oh no." Sissel's hand fluttered to her mouth. "Aren't the police doing anything? They must be out looking for him at least, surely?"

"Yeah, of course they are, but I'm afraid they won't get to him in time." The image of the little kitten's corpse, lying discarded like a piece of trash and possibly left at sea, flashed in his mind and a deep pang bit into his chest. He might be able to see Sissel's spirit again, but it would be terrible if he had to lose his body. "Damn them. Why did they have to show their faces and stir up all this trouble? I never wanted anything terrible to happen to Sissel. He should just be able to enjoy his days as a kitten without any trouble. Why must he persecuted like this?"

"Oh, Yomiel." Sissel got up from her chair and went over to wrap her arms around him in a comforting embrace, burying her face in his neck. She wanted to say something that could make him feel even a little better but nothing came to mind. It seemed pointless to say something reassuring. How would that even help? He was so tormented with worry for the kitten, a simple 'it will be okay' was not going to change that.

The doorbell's chime rang out, startling them. Yomiel was the first to reach the door, his heart pounding in anticipation. He silently prayed that their mysterious visitor was someone bringing him news of Sissel right before wrenching the door open. Lynne was standing there, clutching a little bundle of black fur in her arms.

"Hi, I'm sorry about suddenly turning up unannounced but I thought you might want to see him. In the flesh, that is. I know he could have just gone over the phone line." Lynne held Sissel out to him.

"Sissel." Yomiel took him into his arms and hugged him tightly. "Oh, thank the gods that you're safe. I was so worried about you."

"I apologise for causing you so much concern. At least everything worked out in the end."

"Really? It sounds like you have a lot to tell." Yomiel caressed his soft fur. "I gather the police didn't simply rescue you and Lynne from those foreigners who grabbed you."

"No, a lot more than that happened." (It was a pretty exciting adventure, though I could have done without the scares.)

"Oh, you're that detective from before," the other Sissel was saying, regarding the young woman with surprise. "Lynne, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, that's right," Lynne said, smiling brightly. "I had to bring Sissel over here. I knew Yomiel would have been spending the past few hours fretting over him." She looked toward Yomiel and the kitten, her smile fading away. "I really dropped the ball today. If something had happened to Sissel, I don't think I could ever have forgiven myself for it."

"Well, at least everything worked out. Those foreigners are a difficult force to contend with," Yomiel said. "I understand that you weren't prepared for their sudden attack."

"Would you like to come in?" asked his fiancée. "I could make a cup of tea or coffee if you want."

They sat around the kitchen table and Lynne was given a mug of hot coffee. She then started to relay the tale of what had happened since she and Sissel were kidnapped. "Then after the police saved me from being shot, we went to the submarine to save Sissel. He had a little fun on his way there apparently."

"I learned a bit about how cars work. A simple combination of using the steering wheel and that pedal that made the car go faster worked pretty well and it shot right off the cliff," said Sissel. "It was a very thrilling experience."

"And then you got away and Lynne found you again so you came over here?" Yomiel guessed.

Sissel lowered his head. "Um... not really." (It's really embarrassing to have to admit that even after all that hard work, I got captured again. My poor pride.) He reluctantly recounted his capture, all the way up to the near removal of the Temsik fragment until Lynne interrupted.

"And that's when I came running in to the save the day!" Lynne smiled proudly. "Seriously, it was that close. I had to throw myself on top of him. How does it feel to be saved by me for a change, Sissel?"

"Not bad." (It's kind of strange actually.)

"Then I stuck my gun in the commander's face. You should have seen the look on his face. He was nearly wetting himself in fear."

"I wish I could have seen that," Yomiel murmured. "I would have taken a picture and framed it."

"After that, I blew his robot servant up," Lynne said. "It's wonderful being a detective. Actually, if you hadn't taken me hostage back in the park, I might never have become one. I suppose I have you to thank for my career."

"Uh, yeah, sure." Yomiel rested his chin in his hands, sighing. "Boy, I wish I had a career again."

"Wait, what was that about being taken hostage?" Sissel looked stunned for a few seconds, then shook her head and smiled in bemusement. "Never mind. Nothing really surprises me anymore."

"It is a bit weird, isn't it? We're both friends of Sissel's after all so we'll end up encountering each other anyway. Besides, I've already forgiven him for what he did."

"So, everything is really over now, isn't it?" Yomiel asked. "Commander Sith and his men were arrested by the police?"

"Correct. We can finally relax at last," said the kitten. "So you can go back to fretting over your future and not having any other worries. I'll be looking forward to going to your wedding."

"That's good." Yomiel's face lit up in relief and his mouth widened in a smile. "We'll be able to make more happy memories together, won't we, Sissel?"

"Yes, I'm sure we will." With all that trouble out of the way, Sissel was looking forward to what the future bring. Sure, there might be the occasional death or two, but those probably wouldn't be much of a problem. The future was actually looking pretty rosy for him right now.

Lynne stayed for a few minutes longer before leaving with Sissel and returning to the patrol car waiting outside for her. The police officer drove her straight over to Jowd's house.

Missile came running as Lynne entered through the front door and threw himself at her, barking happily.

"Hey, Missile." Sissel quickly jumped out of Lynne's arms, getting out of the way so that Lynne could give the Pomeranian a cuddle. "You certainly are happy to see us. It feels like ages since we last saw each other, doesn't it?"

"Miss Lynne! And Sissel! Oh, you two have been gone for ever so long and I was wondering if you were going to come back!"

"Ah, sorry about that, Missile," said Lynne. "We had a very busy day. On the bright side, those bad guys are out of the picture now."

"Are they? Thank goodness for that!" Missile wagged his tail furiously. "So we're not going to have any more trouble, huh?"

"Lynne!" Kamila walked over with a big smile plastered across her features. "You sure are back late. I was worried the scary people might have got you until Dad came back home and told me it was okay." She knelt down to stroke Sissel. "I'm really glad you're all fine. But what happened?"

"Oh, we had a little trouble with those scary people but it was nothing we couldn't handle," Lynne replied. "You won't have to worry anymore, by the way. Sissel is no longer in danger. We put them away where bad guys go."

"Yippee!" Kamila jumped up and down happily. "We should have a party to celebrate. I'm sure Mom will say yes. What do you think?"

"Sure, and there better be more of that chicken," Lynne said. She gently scratched Sissel's head, smiling down at him. "What do you think? It's a good cause for celebration, isn't it?"

"Putting an end to Commander Sith's dirty schemes and managing to get rid of the person who started it all? Definitely."

x-o-x-o-x

On the evening of the next day, Yomiel and his fiancée were walking toward Jowd's house.

"It was very nice of them to invite us over." Sissel flashed him a smile. "I certainly wasn't expecting that. What is the occasion supposed to be anyway?"

"It's just to celebrate all the trouble being over, I think," Yomiel replied. "It's been a long time since I last went to a party." He wasn't sure he could even remember when that was. It might have been an office party that happened before someone decided to accuse him of being a spy.

"Yes, it has, hasn't it?" Sissel looped her arm in his. "You don't really even have many friends anymore, do you? You lost touch with them all after you went to jail."

After ten years of being dead and ignored by the world, Yomiel hadn't remembered them particularly well when he went into jail. He didn't think he had that many anyway. Most of them had just been fellow programmers in the same workplace as him. "I don't really need a lot of friends anyway."

"You should make new friends. It's not really a good thing for your only friend to be a cat, is it?"

"S-Sissel!" Yomiel stared at the kitten's spirit. He was suddenly inside the Ghost World, an experience that he doubted would ever cease to be startling. If only Sissel could at least warn him before he did it. "What are you doing here? I'm just about to come inside, you know."

"Yeah, and that's why I thought I would warn you." Sissel stared at his paws guiltily. "Sorry, Yomiel. Lynne did try to suggest she not surprise you, but the little lady was adamant about it. It's not like she could have told her that you used that contraption to murder her mother."

"Oh, gods." Yomiel massaged his forehead, groaning. "If I had to walk right into that without a warning, I'm sure I would end up shivering in the corner. That would really put a dampener on the party." He shrugged a shoulder helplessly. "Well, I guess I'm just going to have to steel myself for it. Thanks for the warning."

"Just remember to look surprised. Kamila might be upset if she thinks I told you beforehand. See you inside."

The Ghost World vanished and Yomiel was looking at the front door of Jowd's house again. He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Great. As if all the mental trauma I have already wasn't enough."

"What?" His beloved was giving him a puzzled look.

"Oh, er, nothing." Yomiel glanced down, noticing that the door was partly ajar. "So they expect us to just walk right in?" He knew what it was going to be like inside. It would be pitch black and everyone in the house would be hiding out of sight, waiting for their guests to enter.

"Maybe we should knock just in case. We wouldn't want to be rude."

"Trust me, they want us to come walking in. Or at least that little girl does." Yomiel walked inside with Sissel.

"Huh, it's dark in here. Where's the light?"

Yomiel was so tempted to tell her not to even bother turning it on. They could just stand there in the dark but then what? Somebody else would get fed up of waiting and come and turn on the light? That would set the thing off anyway.

"I could manipulate the contraption and screw it up if you want." Sissel appeared before him again. "Would you like me to do that? Kamila would know I had done it, but..."

"No, it's fine. Let the little girl have her fun."

"Oh, here's the switch." With a flick of the switch, the light came on and the ceiling fan started to spin. The ball rolled off and knocked over one of the glasses. A chill ran up Yomiel's spine as those familiar notes rang out. His palms suddenly felt clammy as he watched the Cupid rising up. It let loose with its flaming arrow, which sailed over the cake and ignited the candles. The arrow landed in the party poppers and they burst, sending streamers flying across the room.

Yomiel heard Sissel gasp in surprise. He walked over to stand next to her. "That was a shock, wasn't it?"

Sissel looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Yomiel, you've gone awfully pale."

"I don't like surprises very much," Yomiel mumbled.

Kamila ran over to them with the kitten following her. She stopped, giggling. "Did I surprise you?"

"Yes, you really did." Sissel put a hand over her chest. "So whose little girl are you?"

"My dad is Detective Jowd," Kamila said. "He's a really good detective, you know. Are you the one who's getting married to that man?"

"That's right. My name is Sissel. What's yours?"

"Huh? You have the same name as my kitten?" Kamila's mouth dropped open and she gaped for a few seconds, before remembering she had just been asked a question. "I'm Kamila. It's nice to meet you."

"My daughter here really loves her surprises." Jowd came out of the other room. He briefly made eye contact with Yomiel and the blond man thought he saw sympathy in his gaze. "I fear she'll give someone a heart attack one of these days."

"Aren't you tired of that contraption yet, Kamila?" Lynne asked, joining them. Missile followed and sat next to her, wagging his tail in greeting at the new visitors. "You should try to make something different."

"I suppose but I'm just really proud of it." Kamila's forehead was creased with worry. "Could I really end up giving someone a heart attack?"

(If that happened, I could just save them,) Sissel thought.

Inspector Cabanela strutted over to join everyone and went through his dance motions before speaking. "So you're heeere. Celebrating a victory against the enemy... there's nothing like it, baby!"

"You make it sound like we were just in a war," Lynne muttered.

"Well, glad that you could make it to our celebration party," Jowd said. "I'm sure you wanted to celebrate just as much as we did, Yomiel."

"Thanks for the invite. We really appreciate it." Yomiel put an arm around his fiancée, throwing a brief smile her way. "After all, we don't get out much. Jail pretty much wrecked my social life, you see."

"Then you're going to have to make a neeew one," said Cabanela. "You just got to get out there and meet people. Then you'll be partying it up in nooo time at all."

(Huh, I really can't imagine Yomiel partying.)

"Is everyone here?" Alma asked, coming out of the kitchen. "Great. I'll just put out the food and drinks then we can start."

Everybody went to sit down at the table and the celebration began. Sissel took up his vantage point on the windowsill, watching over them as they ate and drank, talking all the while.

"It's nice to be able to see everyone celebrate like this," the little kitten said to himself. "Even Yomiel is being included, which was a nice thought. They are all doing their best to put the past behind themselves. I think everything is going to be just fine from now on."


End file.
